Russian authorities have added exiled opposition figure Yulia Navalnaya to the federal list of “terrorists and extremists” days after issuing a warrant for her arrest, media reported Thursday.
A Moscow court said this week that it placed Navalaya, who currently lives outside Russia, in pre-trial detention in absentia for “participating in an extremist organization.”
Russian authorities in 2021 designated Navalny’s activist network as “extremist,” placing employees, volunteers and supporters at risk of criminal prosecution.
Navalnaya, the widow of late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, faces up to six years in prison if she returns or is extradited to Russia.
Navalnaya announced that she would continue Navalny’s work shortly after his death in an Arctic prison in February.
Being listed an “extremist and terrorist” allows Russia's financial watchdog Rosfinmonitoring to freeze designees’ bank accounts without a court order.
Commenting on the designation, Navalnaya’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said the speed of the Rosfinmonitoring designation means the opposition figure is “doing everything right.”
“My God, I haven't checked my phone for an hour. In that hour, I’ve already become a terrorist,” Navalnaya wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “Killed the husband, labeled the wife a terrorist — typical Putin.”
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