Russia puts Navalny associates Leonid Volkov and Ivan Zhdanov on ‘terrorist and extremist’ list

Leonid Volkov and Ivan Zhdanov, two close associates of imprisoned opposition leader Alexey Navalny, have been added to Russia’s list of “terrorists and extremists.”

Rosfinmonitoring (Russia’s Federal Financial Monitoring Service) placed Volkov and Zhdanov on the blacklist on Friday, January 14. The lack of additional makers next to their names indicates that they were added to the list due to alleged involvement in extremist activities (those included on list due to alleged involvement in terrorism have asterisks next to their names).

People added to Rosfinmonitoring’s list of “terrorists and extremists” have restricted access to banking services — their bank accounts are frozen immediately.

• Leonid Volkov is the former head of Alexey Navalny’s now-defunct network of campaign offices. Ivan Zhdanov formerly led Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (the FBK). In June 2021, the Moscow City Court outlawed Navalny’s political network and his anti-corruption nonprofits as extremist organizations. Both Volkov and Zhdanov left Russia in 2021 and currently reside abroad.