Alexei Navalny: calls grow for release of arrested Russia opposition figure

The United States and Europe have condemned the arrest of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who was detained when returning to Russia for the first time since a suspected poisoning by the FSB last year.

Joe Biden’s incoming national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, called for Navalny’s immediate release, adding that the “perpetrators of the outrageous attack on his life must be held accountable”.

Jake Sullivan
(@jakejsullivan)

Mr. Navalny should be immediately released, and the perpetrators of the outrageous attack on his life must be held accountable. The Kremlin’s attacks on Mr. Navalny are not just a violation of human rights, but an affront to the Russian people who want their voices heard.

January 17, 2021

The outgoing US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, said Washington “strongly condemns” the decision to arrest the opposition leader and called his detention “the latest in a series of attempts to silence Navalny and other opposition figures and independent voices who are critical of Russian authorities”.

“Confident political leaders do not fear competing voices, nor commit violence against or wrongfully detain political opponents,” he added.

Alexei Navalny detained at airport on return to Russia

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Navalny was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on Sunday, less than an hour after he flew in from Germany, where he had been recovering from the poisoning with the nerve agent Novichok that he says was ordered by President Vladimir Putin.

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Alexei Navalny detained after arriving at airport on return to Russia – video

The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, said Navalny’s detention was “unacceptable”. “I call on Russian authorities to immediately release him,” Michel tweeted.

France’s foreign ministry echoed that call: “With its European partners, it is following the situation with the utmost vigilance and call for his immediate release,” spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll said in a statement.

The British foreign office said it was “deeply concerned” by Navalny’s detention: “Instead of persecuting the victim of this terrible crime, the Russian authorities should investigate how a chemical weapon came to be used on Russian soil.”

British opposition MPs also criticised Russia’s actions. Shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy said Navalny was “the victim of a cowardly chemical weapons attack. He has shown great courage in returning to his homeland. His detention is unjustifiable and an insult to the Russian people. He must be released immediately and his attackers brought to justice.”

Britain’s defence committee chairman, Tobias Ellwood, a government MP, called Navalny’s decision to return to Russia “incredibly brave”.

“Poisoned by the FSB yet he chooses to return to Russia and has now been arrested.
Incredibly brave stand by Navalny in the name of democracy as we head towards Russian parliamentary elections.”

Navalny’s flight had been due to touch down at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport, where hundreds of supporters had gathered. The authorities closed the airport at the last minute, and diverted Navalny’s plane to Sheremetyevo, away from waiting media.

Navalny’s spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, said in a tweet that Navalny had not been allowed to see a lawyer at the airport or at the police station.

Prior to Navalny’s arrival, Russia’s prisons service said the 44-year-old had violated parole terms from a suspended sentence on a 2014 embezzlement conviction.