Russia’s Investigative Committee says Leonid Volkov, a close associate of jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, has been added to the country’s wanted list.
Also on February 10, Moscow’s Basmanny district court said that the Investigative Committee officially requested the court to issue an arrest warrant for Volkov, the head of the network of Navalny’s teams across Russia.
Volkov, who is currently based outside Russia in an unspecified country, is suspected of calling on minors to take part in unsanctioned mass rallies in late January.
The 44-year-old Navalny, Putin’s top critic, was arrested on January 17 after returning to Russia from Germany where he was treated for a nerve-agent poisoning that he says was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, which the Kremlin has denied.
The detention sparked outrage across the country and much of the West, with tens of thousands of Russians taking to the streets in rallies on January 23 and 31.
Police cracked down harshly on the demonstrations, putting many of Navalny’s allies behind bars, and then detaining thousands more — sometimes violently — as they gathered on the streets.