Ex-coordinator of Navalny's Chelyabinsk headquarters requested asylum in the Netherlands

The former coordinator of Navalny's Chelyabinsk headquarters, Alexander Belyaev, left Russia due to pressure from the authorities. Public figure Denis Ibragimov reports this on his Telegram channel.

The Chelyabinsk oppositionist requested political asylum in the Netherlands.

According to Ibragimov, Belyaev left Russia due to the threat of a criminal case. A pre-investigation check is being carried out against Navalny's ex-chief of staff in Chelyabinsk under the article on evasion of military service (Article 328 of the Criminal Code).

“As far as is known, he [Belyaev] did not receive any summons to join the army. In June, he was summoned for questioning as a witness in one of the criminal cases brought against Alexei Navalny and his supporters,” Ibragimov said.

• On September 28, 2021, the Investigative Committee opened a case against Alexei Navalny and his associates for creating an extremist community and participating in it (Article 282.1 of the Criminal Code).
• Starting in the spring of 2021, employees of FBK and Navalny’s headquarters began to leave Russia en masse. Thus, in May 2021, the former head of Navalny’s headquarters in Kaliningrad, Maria Petukhova, and the former volunteer of the Arkhangelsk branch of Navalny’s team, Dmitry Baturo, left the country. The ex-coordinator of Navalny’s headquarters in Chelyabinsk, Artem Yaumbaev, left for the United States. In July, the former head of Navalny’s Krasnodar headquarters, Anastasia Panchenko, also left Russia. In September, Alexey Baraboshkin, the former head of Navalny’s headquarters in Chelyabinsk, also left Russia. The move is associated with growing pressure from security forces after the “Free Navalny!” protests. and the transfer to court of a case on recognizing FBK and Navalny’s headquarters as “extremist organizations.”
• On June 9, 2021, the Moscow City Court recognized the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), the Foundation for the Protection of Citizens' Rights (FZPG) and the headquarters of Alexei Navalny as “extremist organizations.” The ex-director of FBK, Ivan Zhdanov, was put on the international wanted list, and Lyubov Sobol, who worked as a lawyer at the fund, had to refuse to participate in the State Duma elections because of this.