Russia’s prison service has ordered opposition leader Alexei Navalny to return to Moscow on Tuesday morning or he will be arrested if he returns after the deadline, reports Reuters.
The current situation: Navalny, one of Russia’s most prominent critics of President Vladimir Putin, has been in Germany since he was flown there by helicopter while recovering from a poisoning attempt.
- An investigation by the Bellingcat website found this month that Navalny was chased by a chemical weapons team from the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) before his poisoning.
- Last week, it was revealed that Navalny had tricked one of the FSB agents accused of following him, detailing in a phone call how the sloppy operation was carried out. The Kremlin has denied any role in the poisoning and claims to have seen no evidence that Navalny was poisoned.
Details: The Federal Prison Service (FSIN) on Monday accused Navalny of violating the terms of a suspended sentence that he has served since 2014 for a case of theft that he claims is politically motivated.
- Navalny’s lawyer said there was no way he could return to Moscow on Tuesday and accused the FSIN of acting under the orders of the Kremlin, according to Reuters.
- Navalny was arrested several times for his protests against the government. Your trial period expires on December 30th.
Go deeper: Russian security officer was tricked and revealed a poisoning plan for Navalny