Navalny arrested as soon as he landed in Moscow 5 months after the poisoning: “It’s my house, I’m not afraid”. Biden and EU leaders: “He must be released”

The time to complete the route from the flight ladder to passport control e Alexey Navalny, just returned home after the August poisoning, was arrested by the police at theairport of Sheremetyevo of Moscow. The wife just kissed him, then the most well-known opponent of Vladimir Putin he was stopped by officers from the operations department of the Federal Penitentiary Service. Formally, as the Russian Prison Service explains, Navalny was sentenced with suspended sentence, but has been included – since December 29 – in the wanted list for multiple violations of the probationary period. “I am who and I can assure you that I am happy, this is my home“, Navalny said shortly before his arrest, speaking to reporters inside terminal D of theMoscow airport, after getting off the shuttle bus. “Everyone asks me: are you afraid? No, I’m not afraid. I pass customs with a calm soul, then I’ll go home because I know I’m right and I also urge you not to be afraid ”. Navalny then headed for passport control, where he was stopped by the police.

“Now he will be held until the court’s decision.” Which could give him over three years in prison. “It’s all artfully manufactured, the Strasbourg Court has already agreed with me,” Navalny put his hands on at Terminal D. His parents, however, complain that his lawyer could not follow him after his arrest, and at the moment he is not knows where it is. Of course, now the game, if possible, is getting even tougher, for him but also for the Kremlin, which risks strengthening the consensus for the crusader against corruption. “I am very grateful to all of you for coming. They are so afraid of Alexey that they have paralyzed almost all Moscow flights tonight, simply because of a man who has returned to his homeland, ”Yulia said after passport control. “The most important thing today is what Alexey said: do not be afraid“.

The international community asked for immediate release a few hours later: the most authoritative voice was that of the president in pectore of the United States of America Joe Biden. “Navalny must be released immediately – says the security advisor Jake Sullivan – and those responsible for the shameful attack on his life must be prosecuted ”. Sullivan adds that “the Kremlin attacks on Navalny are not just a violation of the human rights but also an affront to the Russian people who want their voice to be heard ”. The president of the EU Council Charles Michel also spoke, according to whom the arrest was “unacceptable“. The request for release also comes from the President of the European Parliament David Sassoli: “The arrest of Alexey #Navalny in Moscow is an offense to the international community and to Europe that helped save his life. We ask the Russian authorities for his immediate release. We are ready to invite him to the European Parliament as soon as possible ”.

The issue heats up (further, it is worth saying) also Italian politics. The foreign minister is asking for his release Luigi Di Maio: “Navalny’s arrest on his arrival in Russia is a very serious fact, which worries us. We ask for his immediate release. And we expect your rights to be respected ”. Previously he had been the Minister for European Affairs Enzo Amendola to quote the Athenian historian of the 4th century BC, Thucydides: “Surely the bravest are those who have the clearest vision of what awaits them, as well as glory and danger, and yet they face it”. The Minister of Defense Lorenzo Guerini retweeted a statement from the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Policy Josep Borrell: “The Russian authorities must respect Alexei Navalny’s rights and release him immediately. There politicization dell’judicial system is unacceptable“. The Pd spoke directly through the secretary’s mouth Nicola Zingaretti: “Navalny is a brave man. The world free and democratic must be by his side. The government and theEuropean Union take action for his release and to guarantee his rights “.

The day of Navalny, five months after the poisoning, ended in an ominously familiar way for the prince of Russian opponents, who is now in and out of his homelands with confidence. However, the day could turn out to be a field, depending on how the situation evolves in the coming days. On board the flight Victory (victory, in Russian) took off from Berlin as well as Alexey and his wife Yulia there were dozens of journalists, who broadcast live every single step of the most famous couple on the Russian web. “Boy, bring us the vodka: we’re going home”, Yulia began before take-off in a video posted on her husband’s Instagram (over 2 million views in a few hours). Waiting for them, a Vnukovo, there was a large group of supporters – about 300 people – plus a nice group of colleagues and friends (including his brother Oleg).

The authorities had warned that they would not tolerate a “circus” at the arrivals terminal and they did. The police, in riot gear, began clear out supporters and media – ‘fascists! ‘ shouted the crowd – then he threw the best-known faces of the Navalni entourage (including the lawyer Lybov Sobol, as well as Oleg himself). In all, according to the NGO OVDinfo, at least 60 people have been stops by police. But as a nice handful of irreducible ones it is in fact camped out outside the terminal (braving the -25 degrees of a polar evening) someone, evidently, has decided to simplify their life. And ordered Navalny’s flight to land at Sheremetyevo. That something was boiling in the pot was understood by the strange trajectory of the jet described by the popular tracking site Flightradar24. The landing phase was monitored by almost 500 thousand users, so much so that Flightradar24 himself tweeted one screenshot for the incredulous (these are huge numbers).

As it landed, #DP936 was tracked by nearly 500,000 people. https://t.co/58454gwsli pic.twitter.com/CakN6pp3kN

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) January 17, 2021

Waiting for the passengers, not the finger but the shuttle bus. Alexey, Yulia and the crew of reporters got on the first comer and headed to Terminal D, where Navalny held a kind of impromptu press conference, a few steps from the border. The plot unfolded as expected moments later, when the police officers have it stuck to the controls.

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