Kremlin critic Navalny to solitary for calling Putin a criminal | War Ukraine and Russia

Navalny had accused Putin in a hearing Wednesday of “involving hundreds of thousands in his crimes” by sending them to war in Ukraine. “What I said about the mobilization was not well received,” said Navalny. As a punishment, he would have to go to an isolation cell (solitary confinement, ed.) for twelve days, reports news website Mediazona.

It is the fifth time that Navalny has been sent to solitary. The 46-year-old emphasized that he would not be intimidated. On Friday, he even repeated his accusations against the Russian president. “Putin is tainting the blood of hundreds of thousands with his mobilization and referendums,” Navalny said.

In recent weeks, Navalny has been locked up alone in the maximum-security penal colony where he resides. He would have misrepresented himself once, another time the top button of his prison robes was open or he was walking down the hall with his hands behind his back. According to Navalny, the charges were fabricated to nip his political ambitions in the bud and thwart possible resistance.

On Twitter, the opposition leader writes through his lawyers that he is “too politically correct” for a prisoner. The union of prisoners that he founded there “provokes great irritation”, according to Navalny. In mid-July, Navalny also established an international foundation to fight corruption, the Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF). The Kremlin is furious about that, he writes.

Still, the opposition leader does not appear to be in sackcloth and ashes. “You have to pay a price for truth and independence, and I’ll pay mine. I am better off than many others. At least no bombs fall on me here,” one of his tweets read. “What we need now is pressure on Putin’s corrupt elite friends until they disperse,” Navalny said.