The Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was arrested at the airport after landing in Moscow. The 44-year-old was taken away at passport control, reported the opposition’s Telegram channel. Russia’s penitentiary system had put him out to be wanted because he was said to have violated probation requirements in previous criminal proceedings while he was in Germany.
Airplane was diverted to another airport
Previously, Navalny’s plane had been rerouted at short notice and headed for Sheremetyevo in northwest Moscow from Germany. Police also arrested several of his supporters at Moscow’s other Vnukovo airport. The flight from Berlin should have arrived there.
Before the flight took off that afternoon, Navalny said he was not afraid of being arrested in Russia because he was innocent. As a Russian citizen, he has the right to return to his homeland. He thanked the Federal Republic of Germany, where he had been treated after the poison attack in the Berlin Charité.
Followers wanted to give Navalny a great reception
Navalny had called on supporters to “pick him up” at Vnukovo Airport. On Facebook, 2,000 announced they would come despite the freezing cold and temperatures of minus 20 degrees. Opposition activists had announced their arrival from St. Petersburg, but were stopped by the police. Among those arrested at Vnukovo Airport were Navalny’s closest colleague, lawyer Lyubov Sobol, and other activists.
Opponents had also planned “reception”
Nawalny’s opponents also want to come. A nationalist group announced that they would receive Navalny with seljonka, a green liquid used as an antiseptic in Russia. There has been an attack on Navalny with this liquid before.
Alleged poisoning against Russian secret service
In August, the 44-year-old well-known Russian opposition activist Navalny was murdered with a neurotoxin. He was then flown to Germany and was successfully treated there. After analyzes in laboratories in Germany, France and Sweden, the nerve agent Novichok was identified as a poison with which Navalny should have been murdered. The Organization for a Ban on Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has confirmed that this is a warfare agent of the former Soviet Union.
Navalny accuses the Russian secret service of being responsible for the poisoning. The Russian government denies any involvement in the attack.
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