Meanwhile, Navalny’s supporters say his medical condition is deteriorating rapidly. His press secretary said Navalny was dying, and his doctors said medical tests showed he was at a growing risk for kidney failure and heart problems.
If the prosecutor approves it, it could have serious consequences for Navalny’s team in Russia. Under Russian law, “extremist” organizations can be banned and liquidated, and activists who continue to work with them can be sentenced to up to ten years in prison.
“Under the guise of liberal slogans, these organizations are creating conditions for the destabilization of the social and socio-political situation,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Friday.
The statement added that the aims of the opposition organizations were to encourage “color revolutions”, a reference to popular uprisings in former Soviet republics supported by Western governments, according to Russia.
“The real objectives of their activities are to create conditions to change the basis of the constitutional system, including the use of the ‘color revolution’ scenario.”
Navalny continues its hunger strike
According to them, the latest medical tests have shown that he is at greater risk for kidney failure and heart problems.
CNN cannot independently verify the state of Navalny’s health.
The letter, shared on Twitter by a key Navalny ally and head of a leading opposition union, Anastasia Vasilyeva, said Navalny’s doctors had serious concerns about his current state of health.
“We urgently request negotiations and an urgent medical council with the medical staff of Medical Unit No. 33 to discuss the diagnostic tests performed and the prescribed treatment, as well as to take the patient out of a critical condition. which threatens a fatal outcome, ” says a copy of the letter Vasilyeva shared. “We ask to be admitted to the examination of our patient, who has been observed for years.”
Earlier this week, FSIN said in a statement to CNN that Navalny was treated in a medical unit in penal colony no. 2 in Pokrov where he is being held captive. The statement said Navalny had been transferred to his prison group due to an ‘improvement’ in his health.
Navalny said in a post on his official Instagram account on Friday that he was being threatened with force-feeding while continuing a hunger strike. Navalny said on Friday that his blood test results showed his health was deteriorating.
One of his lawyers, Olga Mikhailova, said in an interview with the Russian media last week that he had been diagnosed with two hernias and was losing feeling in both hands.
He is on a hunger strike out of protest against the prison officers who refuse to give him access to proper medical care. The Kremlin said this week that it would not give him special treatment.
CNN has submitted a statement to the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) for a statement on Navalny’s health.
When President Joe Biden left the Wilmington Country Club in Delaware on Saturday, he was asked about Alexei Navalny’s condition in prison. He told reporters it was “totally, utterly unfair, utterly inappropriate”.
Press secretary urges supporters to rally
Despite the fact that Navalny was captured, his team continued its work against corruption and organized protest marches in support of the opposition figure.
Kyra Yarmysh, Navalny’s press secretary and assistant, is asking Navalny’s supporters to take part in a rally that was meant to invoke his freedom but is now a condition of his life.
Yarmysh said that “now Alexey is dying. In his condition it’s a matter of days. And on weekends lawyers simply can’t get to him, and no one knows what’s going to happen on Monday.”
Yarmysh is under house arrest and does not have access to electronic devices. Her team said they published the post on her behalf. They said Yarmysh still has communication with her lawyers and can pass on information and statements that need to be published.
There is no announced date for the rally. His team said they would announce a date for the protest when they reach 500,000 signatures.
In January, FBK launched a wide-ranging investigation into a palace owned by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Black Sea, valued at more than $ 1 billion. Putin denied that the palace belonged to him or his family members and closest assistants.
Russia has labeled other groups ‘extremist’
In 2017, the Russian Supreme Court banned Jehovah’s Witnesses as an ‘extremist organization’. Other groups identified as ‘extremist’ include far-right and Islamic organizations.
Navalny’s organizations have previously come under pressure from Russian authorities who have been subjected to raids and searched. In 2019, the Russian Ministry of Justice designated FBK as a “foreign agent” group.
“We know how to work under constant searches and frozen accounts, in administrative arrests and criminal cases. We have been building our political organization for ten years, learning to survive, change, be effective and win under unimaginable pressure. in the most impossible situations, “said Ivan Zhdanov, director of FBK, and Leonid Volkov, chief of staff of Navalny, in a joint statement on Friday.
“It is clear that the Kremlin’s new attack is related to the forthcoming rally and the election in September. So it is clear what the answer should be: hold a rally (maybe it will be the last rally in the next few years) , and win elections (perhaps this is the last election for many years), ”the statement continued.