Interfax: Lyubov Sobol left Russia

Lyubov Sobol, an associate of Alexei Navalny, left Russia, Interfax reported, citing an unnamed source.

“According to some reports, Sobol left for Istanbul,” the source said. Earlier, Sobol’s departure to Istanbul was reported by a source of the REN television channel, according to which, she “flew to Istanbul on a flight from Vnukovo on the evening of August 7.” The RT channel, also citing a source, reported the exact time when Sobol flew away from Vnukovo - 20:20. According to REN, Sobol was going to make a transplant in Istanbul.

Sobol herself has not yet confirmed this information. She did not answer questions from Meduza journalists.

Navalny's associate Leonid Volkov, whom Meduza also reached out for comment, said he had no information about Sobol's departure.

An Interfax source said that Sobol could toughen the punishment in two criminal cases in which she was sentenced, because "she violated the existing restrictions." Another source said that Sobol's departure may not have consequences because "the sentence against Sobol and, accordingly, the restrictions imposed by him have not yet entered into legal force." “She could leave, realizing the uncertainty of her status,” the source said.

• On August 3, the Preobrazhensky Court of Moscow sentenced Lyubov Sobol to one and a half years of restriction of freedom on a “sanitary case”. She was found guilty of inciting to violate sanitary and epidemiological rules. The court forbade Sobol to travel outside of Moscow and the Moscow region. In April, a court sentenced Sobol to a year of probation, finding her guilty of breaking into a home with violence.
• After the verdict was passed on the “sanitary case,” Sobol said on the air of Ekho Moskvy on August 4, answering a question about a possible departure, that “today I am here,” in Moscow, and “we'll see.” She vowed to continue "working, telling the truth and fighting corruption." “And under what conditions - from house arrest, from prison, from abroad, from Moscow, with a bracelet, without a bracelet - it seems to me that this is already a secondary issue,” she said.