Navalny’s detention condemned
MOSCOW: Police detained prominent Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on arrival in Moscow yesterday, after he flew home to Russia from Germany for the first time since he was poisoned last year, triggering a political clash with the West.
Navalny could be jailed for three and ahalf years for allegedly flouting the terms of a suspended prison sentence, which may reignite political pressure on the West to tighten sanctions on Russia, especially against an $US11.6 billion ($NZ16.3 billion) project to build a natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.
Navalny was poisoned in August by what German military tests showed was a Novichok nerve agent, a version of events the Kremlin rejects.
When Navalny said last week he planned to return home, the Moscow prison service (FSIN) said it would do everything to arrest him once he returned.
The 44yearold opposition politician told journalists on his plane yesterday he was not afraid and did not believe he would be arrested.
Four masked police officers asked Navalny to go with them at passport control at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, before he had formally entered Russia. Navalny, after kissing his wife Yulia on the cheek, walked away with them.
Lawyers last night said they had not been granted access to Navalny and that his condition was unknown.
Minutes before he was detained, Navalny had said, ‘‘I am not afraid. I know that I am right. I know all the criminal cases against me are fabricated.’’
Moscow’s FSIN said in a statement Navalny had been detained due to the alleged violations of his suspended prison sentence and would be held in custody until a court hearing later this month that will rule whether to convert his suspended sentence into a three and ahalfyear jail term.
His arrest drew immediate condemnation abroad.
United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab tweeted, ‘‘It is appalling that Alexei Navalny, the victim of a despicable crime, has been detained by Russian authorities.
❛ I am not afraid. I know that I am right.
Alexei Navalny
He must released.
‘‘Rather than persecuting Mr Navalny, Russia should explain how a chemical weapon came to be used on Russian soil.’’
United States presidentelect Joe Biden’s incoming national security adviser Jake Sullivan
be
immediately said on Twitter, ‘‘Mr Navalny should be immediately released, and the perpetrators of the outrageous attack on his life must be held accountable.’’
European Council president Charles Michel demanded Navalny’s immediate release.
European Union member Lithuania said yesterday it would ask the European Union to swiftly impose new sanctions on Russia. and Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek said he wanted the EU to discuss possible sanctions.
In a statement, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said, ‘‘Russia is bound by . . . international obligations to the principle of the rule of law and to the protection of civil rights.
‘‘These principles must, of course, be applied to Alexei Navalny as well. He should be released immediately.’’ — Reuters