MOSCOW (AP) – A senior associate of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was released from prison on Sunday and said she was accused of trespassing after ringing the bell of an alleged security officer who inadvertently revealed details of Navalny’s alleged poisoning with a nervous agent of the Soviet era.
Lyubov Sobol, a key figure at the Navalny Anti-Corruption Foundation, was detained for 48 hours on Friday after a day of interrogation. The move came after Sobol’s attempt on Monday to contact the alleged agent at his Moscow apartment, which Navalny had previously misled to reveal details of his alleged poisoning.
Sobol and her allies denied the charges and maintained that she did not violate any law by ringing the apartment bell. While Sobol was being questioned, the state’s Investigation Committee issued a statement accusing her of violent invasion – criminal charges that could lead to up to two years in prison.
Shortly after her release from detention on Sunday, Sobol told reporters that she was formally charged and insisted that the case against her was “revenge” against Navalny.
On Monday, Navalny released the recording of a phone call he said he made to a man he identified as Konstantin Kudryavtsev and described as an alleged member of a group of Federal Security Service officials, or FSB, who allegedly poisoned him with the Soviet – a Novichok agent in August and then tried to cover it up.
Navalny, who is convalescing in Germany, said he phoned the man hours before the Bellingcat investigative group released a report alleging that FSB agents with specialized chemical weapons training had followed him for years and were nearby when he was poisoned.
On the call, Navalny introduced himself as a security officer and induced his interlocutor to share details of the alleged poisoning operation and to acknowledge that he was involved in the “processing” of Navalny’s underwear to “have no trace” of poison.
Navalny fell ill during the August 20 flight in Russia and was taken to Berlin while still in a coma for treatment two days later. Laboratories in Germany, France and Sweden, and tests by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, established that he was exposed to a Soviet-era Novichok nerve agent.
Russian authorities vehemently denied any involvement in the poisoning, and the FSB considered the recording released by Navalny to be false.
Earlier this year, Sobol announced that he would run for next year’s parliamentary elections, which are important for the Kremlin, because they will determine who will control the State Duma in 2024. That’s when the current term of Russian President Vladimir Putin expires and he will be able to seek reelection, thanks to a constitutional reform that readjusted his term limits.