Navalny's prime aide attacked with hammer outdoors house in Lithuania

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Based on Mr Navalny's press secretary, Russian opposition chief Alexei A. Navalny's chief of workers, who died in an Arctic penal colony final month, was attacked with a hammer and tear fuel outdoors his house within the Lithuanian capital late on Tuesday. He mentioned police and ambulance had been known as to the scene.

Leonid Volkov, who served as certainly one of Mr Navalny's prime organizers, was headed to his house in Vilnius when the assault occurred. A minimum of one attacker broke his automotive window, fired tear fuel at him and started beating him with a hammer, Mr Navalny's press secretary Kira Yarmysh mentioned in an announcement launched on Twitter and in different feedback to Russian media. Gave.

Mr. Volkov survived the assault.

Pictures posted on-line by one other prime aide to Mr Navalny confirmed Mr Volkov acutely aware however injured, with a bruise on his head and bleeding from one leg. Different photographs present the damaged window of his automotive, which was parked on the road in entrance of a youngsters's basketball hoop. Later within the night, the aide posted a photograph of Mr. Volkov being loaded into an ambulance and brought to the hospital.

“He began preventing with the automotive door and his legs,” Ms Yarmysh instructed the exiled Russian information outlet Meduza. “So, they hit him the place they may – at his legs.”

The identification of these behind the assault was unknown as of Tuesday evening, and it was not instantly clear whether or not there was one attacker, or extra.

The assault on Mr Volkov got here a few month after Mr Navalny died in jail, beneath circumstances that haven’t but been defined.

The opposition campaigner's spouse and associates accused Russian President Vladimir V. Putin of Mr Navalny's homicide. President Biden mentioned Mr Putin “and his thugs” had been chargeable for his demise. The Kremlin has denied the allegations. The Russian jail service mentioned Mr Navalny had collapsed whereas strolling outdoors his cell.

The assault on Tuesday evening got here amid widespread considerations in regards to the security of these pursuing Mr Navalny's work from overseas. Hours earlier than the assault, Mr Volkov was requested in an interview with Meduza about the principle dangers to Mr Navalny's organisation. He replied: “The principle threat is that we are going to all be killed.”

Christo Grozev, a Bulgarian journalist who uncovered the Russian intelligence unit behind the 2020 poisoning of Mr Navalny in an investigation featured within the Oscar-winning documentary “Navalny”, issued a Russian-language warning on X after the assault on Mr Volkov Was accomplished. “The good terror of a small dictator has begun,” Mr. Grozev mentioned. “Activists, journalists and unbiased thinkers – watch out. Don't be afraid, however watch out. Don't make issues straightforward for brainless bandits.

“The information about Leonid's assault is surprising. The related authorities are at work,” Lithuania's Overseas Affairs Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis mentioned in an announcement on X. “The perpetrators should reply for his or her crime.”

Mr. Volkov, a former software-company govt who ran Mr. Navalny’s nationwide community of regional workplaces in Russia, fled to Lithuania in 2019 as Russian authorities cracked down on Mr. Navalny’s anti-corruption group and opened felony instances in opposition to his associates. Opened.

In current days, Mr Volkov has been main requires “Midday Towards Putin”, a plan for Russians who oppose the president to return collectively at 12 midday on the final day of this weekend's presidential election to move to the nation's polls .

Earlier than his demise, Mr Navalny had supported the concept as a means for Russians to enter the resistance with out risking arrest. Mr Volkov has known as on Russians to implement the plan as a approach to respect the opposition chief's ultimate needs.

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