The Navalny aide said the surprise change in strategy was the inevitable result of a “demonstratively cruel crackdown” from the Kremlin. Mr Navalny’s team refused to be pulled into a “Belarusian-style” confrontation, Mr Volkov said. “Vladimir Putin is behaving like a monkey with a grenade. An energetic IT specialist originally from Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest city, the 40-year-old began working with Mr Navalny in 2012. Mr Navalny increased his share of the vote from 3pc to an official result of 27pc.

Source: Irish Independent February 08, 2021 02:39 UTC