Updated with arrest confirmation.
A Russian man accused of helping organize attacks on allies of the late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was arrested in Poland, the Polish Prosecutor’s Office confirmed Friday.
Last week, Navalny’s team published an investigation claiming that Leonid Nevzlin, an exiled billionaire and associate of Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, orchestrated the attack on Leonid Volkov in Lithuania earlier this year. Nevzlin was also accused of organizing attacks against Navalny aide Ivan Zhdanov in Switzerland and the wife of economist Maxim Mironov in Argentina.
Nevzlin has denied having involvement in “any attacks on people, in any form whatsoever,” adding that “justice will confirm the absurdity and complete baselessness of the accusations against me.”
According to Navalny’s team, Nevzlin allegedly ordered the attack on Volkov through a lawyer by the name of Anatoly Blinov. According to the independent investigative news outlet Agentstvo, Blinov once served on Gazprom-Media’s board of directors and now lives in Poland.
On Friday, Poland’s Prosecutor’s Office said Blinov had been arrested on Sept. 13 as part of an ongoing investigation into the attack on Volkov, adding that he would be kept in police custody for at least three months.
“The National Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw presented him with three charges, including the charge of directing the beating of the Russian opposition [activist] Leonid V. because of his political nationality and political activities,” the law enforcement body said in a statement.
It added that police were investigating the suspected involvement of eight people in the attack, with four of them having been placed in preventative custody. Among the suspects are six Polish citizens, one Belarusian and Blinov, a Russian national.
At the same time, Poland’s Prosecutor’s Office mentioned a previously unreported attack on a Navalny ally that allegedly took place in North America. It was not immediately clear what incident authorities were referring to.
Sirena, an outlet founded by Navalny allies, first reported on Blinov’s arrest in Poland.
The accusations against Nevzlin have caused a major rift within Russia’s exiled opposition, with prominent figures, including Khodorkovsky, coming to Nevzlin’s defense. The infighting appears headed for the courts, though it is unclear how exactly it will proceed, as Nevzlin resides in Israel and the alleged crimes occurred in multiple countries.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said Monday that his country would seriously consider the claims against Nevzlin.
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