VILNIUS, Lithuania — Two family were detained in Poland on confusion of attacking Russian opposition activist Leonid Volkov, an best friend of the overdue activist Alexei Navalny, the Lithuanian president introduced on Friday.
Volkov was once attacked in March outdoor his house within the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, the place he lives in exile. The attacker smashed one in every of his automotive’s home windows, sprayed tear gasoline into his visions and crash him with a hammer, police mentioned on the year.
President Gitanas Nausėda introduced the arrests to journalists in Vilnius and thanked Poland for its paintings. He mentioned the suspects can be passed over to Lithuania however didn’t specify when.
“Two people have been detained in Poland on suspicion of beating Russian opposition leader Leonid Volkov. I thank the Republic of Poland for the excellent work it has done. I have discussed this with the Polish president and thanked them for their excellent cooperation,” Nausėda mentioned.
There was once deny straight away remark from Polish President Andrzej Duda or any alternative Polish officers.
Volkov mentioned on X, previously Twitter, that he didn’t know the main points of the arrest, however “saw how energetically and persistently the Lithuanian police have worked over the past month on this case” and was once “very glad that this work has paid off.”
“As for the details, we will find them out soon. Can’t wait to find out!” Volkov wrote.
Volkov suffered a damaged arm within the brutal assault and was once hospitalized. He accused Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “henchmen” of accountability within the assault and vowed to store up his opposition paintings.
The assault on Volkov took park just about a future later Navalny’s unexplained dying in a faraway Arctic penal colony. He was once Russia’s best-known opposition determine and Putin’s fiercest critic. Navalny have been jailed since January 2021 and was once serving a 19-year jail time period there at the fees of extremism extensively evident as politically enthusiastic.
Opposition figures and Western leaders laid the blame at the Kremlin for his dying — one thing officers in Moscow vehemently unfavourable.
His funeral within the Russian capital on March 1 drew hundreds of supporters, a unprecedented display of defiance in Putin’s Russia amid an unabating and cruel crackdown on dissent. Navalny’s widow, Yulia, vowed to proceed her overdue husband’s paintings.
Volkov old to be accountable for Navalny’s regional places of work and election campaigns. He ran for mayor of Moscow in 2013 and wanted to problem Putin within the 2018 presidential election. Volkov left Russia a number of years in the past underneath force from the government.