VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) – Leonid Volkov, a close ally and top strategist of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was hospitalized Wednesday in the Lithuanian capital by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “stooges” accused of being behind the brutal attack. He vowed not to give up.
Police said on Tuesday that assailants attacked Volkov as he arrived by car at his exile home in Vilnius. Police said the gunman smashed his car window, sprayed tear gas in his eyes and hit him with a hammer.
Mr. Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation said Mr. Volkov had a broken arm and was “currently unable to walk due to severe bruises from being hit with a hammer.”
He was hospitalized but later released and vowed to continue working Wednesday.
A photo taken on March 13, 2024 shows Leonid Volkov, a close friend of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, being attacked outside his home in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Tuesday night, March 12. A police officer is seen securing protective tape at the scene of the incident. , 2024. (Photo: PETRAS MALUKAS/AFP) (Photo: PETRAS MALUKAS/AFP via Getty Images)
A photo taken on March 13, 2024 shows Leonid Volkov, a close friend of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, outside his home in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Tuesday night, March 12, 2024. A police car can be seen standing at the scene of the attack. (Photo credit: PETRAS MALUKAS/AFP) (Photo credit: PETRAS MALUKAS/AFP, Getty Images)
A photo taken on March 13, 2024 shows the scene of the attack on Leonid Volkov, a close ally of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, outside his home in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Tuesday evening, March 13, 2024. This photo shows a police officer with a sniffer dog on duty. 12th 2024. (Photo credit: PETRAS MALUKAS/AFP) (Photo credit: PETRAS MALUKAS/AFP, Getty Images)
“We will try, we will not give up,” Volkov, 43, said in a short video posted on Telegram on Wednesday, his arm bandaged and a sling. “It was the characteristic bandit greeting of Putin’s henchmen.” This is due to Putin’s ferocious style and his reputation as deputy mayor in the 1990s, when St. Petersburg was considered one of Russia’s most criminal cities. It seems to refer to both missions.
Police have launched a criminal investigation.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis described the attack as “shocking”. He wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “Relevant authorities are working. The perpetrators will have to be held accountable for their crimes.”
The attack came nearly a month after Navalny died of unknown causes in an Arctic penal colony. He was Russia’s most famous opposition figure and President Putin’s fiercest critic. Navalny has been in prison since January 2021, serving a 19-year sentence there on extremism charges widely seen as politically motivated.
Rebels and Western leaders blamed the Kremlin for his death, a charge vehemently rejected by Moscow officials.
Leonid Volkov, chief of staff to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, attends the Copenhagen Democracy Summit held at the Royal Danish Theater (Skespielhuset) in Copenhagen on June 10, 2022. The 5th Summit will be held from June 9th to 10th, 2022. (Photo by Philip Davali / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP) / Denmark OUT (Photo by PHILIP DAVALI/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images)
Thousands of supporters gathered for Navalny’s funeral in the Russian capital on March 1, an unprecedented show of defiance in Putin’s Russia, which continues to brutally crack down on opponents. His widow, Yulia, vowed to continue her late husband’s work.
Mr. Volkov previously ran Mr. Navalny’s regional office and campaign. Navalny ran for mayor of Moscow in 2013 and attempted to challenge Putin in the 2018 presidential election. Volkov left Russia several years ago under pressure from the authorities.
Last year, Volkov and his team launched a project called “Navalny’s Campaign Machine” to contact as many Russians as possible by phone or online ahead of the March 15-17 presidential election to The aim was to turn people against Putin.
Shortly before his death, Navalny called on his supporters to gather at polling stations at noon on the last day of voting to show their dissatisfaction with the Kremlin. His allies have been aggressively pursuing a strategy in recent weeks called “Noon vs. Putin.”
Russian independent news agency Meduza interviewed Volkov hours before the attack and asked him about “the main risk is that we will all be killed,” Meduza quoted Volkov as saying. .
Putin critic and Russian opposition leader Alexi Navalny dies in Arctic penal colony, Russia says https://t.co/OTrJFtN5rI
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 16, 2024
