Russia’s FSB security service on Thursday raided the house of the father of Leonid Volkov, a close ally to late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Volkov said, calling it ‘revenge’ for his own anti-Kremlin campaigning.
Navalny died under unclear circumstances in a remote prison in Russia’s Arctic in February 2024, where he was serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges that were widely seen as retribution for his opposition to President Vladimir Putin.
Since his death, the Russian authorities have ramped up their own campaign against Navalny’s allies and family members — labelling his widow, Yulia Navalnaya, an extremist, sentencing his lawyers to years in prison and arresting journalists that covered his court hearings.
Leonid Volkov, Navalny’s former chief of staff who now lives in exile, reported the search of his father’s house in a video posted to Telegram.
‘FSB officers are conducting investigative activities in connection with alleged donations to the Anti-Corruption Foundation by my father,’ wrote Volkov, referring to Navalny’s group, which is banned as an ‘extremist’ organisation in Russia.
‘Contrary to media reports, he is not detained, the events are happening right now. They are seizing equipment. No charges have been filed yet,’ Volkvov added.
He said the searches were ‘revenge for the work I have been doing, am doing, and do not intend to stop.’
Russia outlaws any form of cooperation with groups it has labelled ‘extremist’, with prison terms among the possible punishments.
Leonid Volkov also said his father, Mikhail Volkov, a mathematician who was a head of a department at a university in Yekaterinburg, was dismissed in February without explanation, after working there for more than 49 years.
Volkov was one of Navalny’s closest aides in the opposition leader’s years-long campaign to oust Putin.
Under heavy pressure in Russia, especially since Moscow launched its military offensive on Ukraine, the Russian opposition has struggled to exert influence from abroad, where it has been plagued by scandals and in-fighting.
