Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, who was imprisoned in the penal camp, celebrated the second anniversary of the poisoning of him as a birthday. “For the second time I’m celebrating my second birthday. The day they killed me, but I didn’t die for whatever reason,” wrote the 46-year-old in a greeting from the prison camp published on Instagram on Saturday. In it he once once more blamed Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin for the assassination attempt on August 20, 2020 with the deadly nerve agent Novichok. And he criticized that the case was still not officially investigated. The Kremlin denies there was a crime.
Because of alleged fraud, Putin’s fiercest opponent is being held in penal colony 6 in Melekhovo near the city of Kovrov, regarding 260 kilometers north-east of Moscow – under particularly harsh prison conditions. In May, a court upheld the nine-year prison sentence.
“Mask Dropped”
The prominent opposition member pointed out once more that a research team from a group of the Russian domestic secret service FSB had proven the assassination. “Because I survived, the Kremlin became so bitter that they first sentenced me to 3.5 years and then to nine years.”
The case not only revealed the criminal nature of Putin and his regime, but also had an impact on the entire political system in Russia. “The system dropped every mask; At the end of January 2021, it became repressive and authoritarian without hesitation,” said Navalny, who returned to his homeland following treatment in Germany despite the threat of imprisonment. This is what happens when someone unsuccessfully smears his underpants with Novichok, Navalny said on his return.
FSB agents are said to have applied the chemical warfare agent to Navalny’s underpants in a hotel. Shortly therefollowing, on August 20, 2020, he collapsed on a flight to Moscow. He was first taken to a Russian hospital and then flown to Germany, where he was treated at the Berlin Charité. Several laboratories detected the internationally banned warfare agent Novichok.
