MOSCOW – Russian authorities today opened a criminal probe into an ally of opposition leader Alexei Navalny after raiding her flat, alleging she threatened a man whom Navalny claimed took part in his poisoning.
Ivan Zhdanov, head of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Fund, said investigators launched a probe into Lyubov Sobol for trespassing “with the use of violence or a threat to use it” after she rang the doorbell of the alleged Federal Security Service (FSB) agent.
On Monday, Navalny said he tricked an alleged FSB chemical weapons expert named Konstantin Kudryavtsev into admitting that the domestic intelligence agency had sought to kill him this summer by placing poison in his underwear.
Later the same day, Sobol went to an apartment here where a joint media report, led by the Bellingcat investigative website, last week said Kudryavtsev lives.
She was detained by police at the scene and questioned for hours.
Today, police took the 33-year-old opposition activist in for questioning after conducting a raid on her apartment about 7am (0400 GMT) and confiscating her tech devices, tweeted the Anti-Corruption Fund.
Sobol’s husband and young daughter were allowed to leave the flat, said a message posted on her Twitter feed.
Speaking to AFP on Monday, the opposition activist expressed concern about a possible criminal case against her.
Sobol, a lawyer by training, has announced plans to run in parliamentary elections next year.
Western governments say Navalny, 44, was poisoned with the Soviet-era Novichok nerve agent in a case that has further dented Moscow’s relations with leading European countries and sparked mutual sanctions.
FSB has said Navalny’s call with Kudryavtsev was “fake”, but has not denied that he works for the agency.
The Kremlin has admitted that security agents tailed Navalny, but denied any attempts to poison him. – AFP, December 25, 2020
