The court sentenced Leonid Volkov in absentia to 18 years in prison

In the case of Alexei Navalny’s ally, there are 45 episodes under 9 different criminal articles, including justification of terrorism

The Second Western District Military Court in Moscow sentenced Alexei Navalny's associate Leonid Volkov in absentia to 18 years in prison. He was also given a fine of 2 million rubles and a ban on engaging in any activity on the Internet.

In Volkov’s case there are 45 episodes under 9 different criminal articles - organizing an extremist community and its financing, “fakes” about the army, justifying terrorism, fraud, vandalism, rehabilitation of Nazism, involving minors in rallies and creating an NGO that infringes on the personality and rights of citizens.

The term of imprisonment in the court verdict corresponds to the term requested by prosecutors. Volkov reacted to the verdict with a post in which he wrote: “Thaw!”

Since 2021, Volkov has not lived in Russia. After the Anti-Corruption Foundation and the headquarters of Alexei Navalny were recognized as extremist organizations, the oppositionist was added to the register of terrorists and extremists, and in April 2022 - to the register of “foreign agents.”

In order not to miss new texts from “Layout”, subscribe to our telegram channel

Attack on Volkov and pressure on relatives

“Verstka” previously reported that on March 12, 2024, Volkov was attacked near his home in Vilnius. Unknown people attacked the oppositionist with a hammer. They broke the window in Volkov's car and sprayed tear gas in his eyes.

In total, there are eight people in the case of the attack on Volkov, according to the Polish prosecutor’s office. Among them are six citizens of Poland (they are named as perpetrators), one citizen of Russia - Anatoly Blinov, one citizen of Belarus - according to media reports, this is Viktor Pavelka. The Russian and the Pole are called the organizers of the attack. The Lithuanian President believes that the Kremlin ordered the attack on Volkov.

After the attack on Volkov, the Mediazona publication studied and published the so-called “ Nevzlin archive ” - correspondence between businessman and former YUKOS top manager Leonid Nevzlin and lawyer Anatoly Blinov.

The correspondence was passed on to journalists by FBK employees. The foundation released an investigation and accused Nevzlin of organizing attacks on Leonid Volkov in Vilnius, the director of the foundation Ivan Zhdanov in Geneva, and the wife of economist Maxim Mironov, Alexandra Petrachkova, in Argentina. Nevzlin denied all accusations and stated that the correspondence was falsified.

In addition, the Russian authorities are putting pressure on Volkov’s relatives. In April of this year, FSB officers conducted a search of the father of the oppositionist, Mikhail Volkov.

According to Volkov, in mid-February 2025, his father was fired one day from the Ural Federal University “in the middle of the semester” after 49 years of work. The dismissal was related to the son's opposition activities, but this was not publicly reported.

Photo: Leonid Volkov, Bonn, Germany, August 2, 2024. REUTERS/Leon Kuegeler

Support “Vestka” - it’s important and safe →