Russia has issued an arrest warrant for Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Alexei Navalny and a prominent dissident now living in exile, citing her alleged involvement with an "extremist" group.
The Moscow court issued the warrant in absentia on Tuesday, five months after Navalny's death in a Russian Arctic penal colony. Navalnaya has blamed President Vladimir Putin for her husband's death.
In Russia, the term "extremist" is frequently used by courts to label dissident or independent groups, often reflecting the Kremlin's political interests.
Since her husband's death, Navalnaya has been residing in an undisclosed location outside Russia with their two children. On Tuesday, she urged her supporters on the X social media platform to remain focused on the broader fight against Putin rather than being distracted by the court order.
“When you write about this, please don’t forget to write the main thing: Vladimir Putin is a murderer and a war criminal,” Navalnaya wrote.
“His place is in prison, and not somewhere in The Hague, in a cosy cell with a TV, but in Russia – in the same (penal) colony and the same 2 by 3-metre cell in which he killed Alexei.”
This month, Yulia Navalnaya was appointed chairwoman of the Human Rights Foundation, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to advancing human rights.
Alexei Navalny’s Death
The most formidable political opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Alexie Navalny, passed away in February in an Arctic prison colony while serving a 19-year sentence for extremism, which he had denounced as being driven by politics. Authorities have not released any information about Navalny's passing other than stating that he fell ill after going for a walk.
Navalny was imprisoned after returning to Moscow in January 2021 from Germany, where he had been recovering from the nerve agent poisoning he had suffered in 2020 and had attributed to the Kremlin.