Russian authorities have opened a criminal case against imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his closest allies, accusing them Tuesday of forming an extremist group and involvement in one. After his arrest produced a wave of mass protests all across Russia’s 11 time zones, Russian authorities brought multiple criminal charges against Navalny’s allies. Leading up to the election, authorities blocked nearly 50 websites run by Navalny’s allies and pressured Apple and Google to remove from their online stores an app Navalny’s team created. A week after the election — a new criminal case against Navalny, Volkov, Zhdanov, Sobol, Alburov, Shaveddinov,” Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said on Twitter. The easiest way of doing that is to launch a criminal case.

Source: Los Angeles Times September 28, 2021 20:21 UTC