Oppositionist Alexei Navalny reported in his blog that he filed a lawsuit in the Tverskoy Court. The defendant in the lawsuit is Russian President Vladimir Putin. "This defendant violated the federal law "On Combating Corruption", and violated it not in some political way or in general, but quite specifically and personally. That is why I ask the court to force him to correct his violations," the oppositionist wrote in his blog.

The president is unaware that Alexei Navalny has filed a lawsuit against him, Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov told TASS.

In October last year, the president ordered co-financing of the investment construction of the West Siberian Petrochemical Plant from the National Welfare Fund in the amount of $1.75 billion. Navalny writes that Kirill Shamalov, a member of the board of directors of Sibur, is allegedly Vladimir Putin's son-in-law, the husband of the president's alleged daughter Ekaterina Tikhonova. In the lawsuit, Navalny refers to a Reuters publication, which stated that Kirill Shamalov is married to Ekaterina Tikhonova.

Therefore, according to Navalny, Putin should have declared a conflict of interest when allocating these funds. The politician believes that Putin violated Article 10 of the Law on Combating Corruption. This article states that a conflict of interest is understood as a situation in which the personal interest of a person performing official duties affects the objective and impartial performance of duties. And personal interest is understood as the possibility of receiving income by this person and his relatives, including spouses of children.

In his lawsuit, Navalny demands that the president's inaction to prevent and resolve a conflict of interest be declared illegal, and that he "refrain from resolving the issue of allocating funds" for the construction of a petrochemical plant by recusing himself. In addition, similar complaints were filed with the Prosecutor General's Office and the Presidential Administration.

According to Russian constitutional law, the current president has immunity from jurisdiction, which means that he cannot be held legally liable, and immunity. Until the president is removed from office, he cannot be prosecuted or subjected to other coercive measures. However, the president's immunity does not exclude the possibility of filing a civil lawsuit against him.

Navalny files lawsuit against Putin