MOSCOW (AP) – A top ally of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was released from custody on Sunday, saying she was charged with trespassing after ringing the doorbell of a suspected security operator who accidentally revealed details of Navalny’s alleged poisoning. with a nerve agent of the Soviet era. .
Lyubov Sobol, a key figure in Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, was detained for 48 hours on Friday after a day of interrogation. The move follows Sobol’s attempt to reach the alleged operative in his Moscow apartment on Monday, which Navalny had previously defrauded of revealing the details of his alleged poisoning.
Sobol and her allies denied the allegations, claiming she did not break any law by ringing the doorbell to the apartment. While Sobol was being questioned, the State Investigation Committee issued a statement accusing her of violent entry – criminal charges that carry up to two years in prison.
Shortly after her release from custody on Sunday, Sobol told reporters she had been formally charged and insisted the case against her would take revenge on Navalny.
On Monday, Navalny released the recording of a call he said he made with a man he identified as Konstantin Kudryavtsev and is described as a suspected member of a group of Federal Security Service (FSB) officers. , who allegedly poisoned him with the Soviets. -era Novichok agent in August and thereafter tried to cover up.
Navalny, who is recovering in Germany, said he called the man hours before the Bellingcat investigation group released a report alleging that FSB employees with specialized training in chemical weapons had been following him for years and that they were in the immediate vicinity when he was poisoned.
Navalny introduced himself as a security officer and seduced his interlocutor into sharing the details of the alleged poisoning operation, admitting that he was involved in the “processing” of Navalny’s underwear so that there would be no traces of poison.
Navalny became ill during the August 20 flight in Russia and was flown to Berlin two days later while still in a coma. Labs in Germany, France and Sweden, and tests by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, found that he was exposed to a Soviet era of the Novichok nerve.
Russian authorities vehemently denied any involvement in the poisoning, and the FSB rejected the survey released by Navalny as false.
Earlier this year, Sobol announced that it would run in next year’s parliamentary election, which is important for the Kremlin, because they would determine who would control the State Duma in 2024. This is when the current president of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, expires and he is able to win re-election thanks to a constitutional reform that restores his term limits.