Warsaw prosecutors file indictment against lawyer Anatoly Bilnov over attacks on exiled Russian opposition figures abroad

Prosecutors in Warsaw have submitted an indictment against lawyer Anatoly Blinov in a criminal case involving attacks on Russian opposition figures abroad.

Blinov is charged with five counts, including organizing an assault against Leonid Volkov, an associate of the late Alexei Navalny. That incident took place in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius in March 2024 and involved two Polish citizens spraying Volkov with pepper spray before striking him several times with a hammer. Prosecutors also allege that Blinov incited another attack on Volkov in late 2023, which the victim said took place in New York.

The attack against Volkov was not an isolated incident. Blinov also faces charges related to an assault that occurred in Buenos Aires on Sept. 1, 2023, when assailants attacked Alexandra Petrachkova, the wife of Russian economist Maxim Mironov, “with the aim of forcing her to cease political activity in support of the Russian opposition.”

In addition, Blinov stands accused of involvement in the arson of a replica of Alexei Navalny’s prison cell in Vilnius and the forgery of a driver’s license.

Shortly after news of the indictment against Blinov broke, Volkov wrote on his Telegram channel:

“In all these incidents, Blinov appears as the organizer, meaning the person who, acting on behalf of the client (Nevzlin), recruited the perpetrators, gave them instructions, handed over the money, and so on. What links all five of these very different incidents is that they are all discussed in detail in the correspondence between Blinov and Nevzlin; moreover, no one knew about two of these episodes (the attempted attack in 2023 and the forgery of documents) and would never have found out about them without this correspondence. It seems that all those who claimed that this correspondence was ‘fabricated by the FSB’ should be ashamed — but, unfortunately, these people are never ashamed.

These are not all the incidents; investigations into a number of others are ongoing.

In any case, this is a major step forward in this case. Soon, all the correspondence will be read out in court, and Anatoly Blinov will have to explain why he suddenly decided to organize all these attacks, how much money he received for doing so, and on whose orders he was acting. I mean, we know the answers to all these questions — they’re in our investigation, and they’re in the case files — but in the coming months, they will be heard in the courtroom as well.”

Blinov faces up to five years in prison. He was detained in the fall of 2024 and has remained in pretrial detention since then. According to correspondence published by Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF), Blinov acted on instructions from billionaire Leonid Nevzlin, a former co-owner of the Russian oil major Yukos, who allegedly used him to organize attacks on several Russian opposition figures in exile. Blinov reported back to Nevzlin on at least two “successful” attacks — those against Volkov Petrachkova. Notably, Petrachkova’s husband, economist Maxim Mironov, is closely associated with Navalny’s team and published unfavorable comments about Nevzlin on Twitter three months prior to the attack on his wife.

The Insider analyzed the screenshots of the correspondence between Blinov and Nevzlin and concluded they are highly likely to be authentic.

Nevzlin has denied organizing the attack on Volkov. The businessman said the correspondence in question — the existence of which he did not dispute — was initiated by Blinov.