Jailed Putin critic Alexei Navalny claimed on Tuesday that Russian forces killed a civilian in Ukraine simply because the two shared a surname.
The body of Ilya Navalny, 60, found in Bucha near Kyiv was reportedly among more than 400 bodies left behind after Russia’s withdrawal from northern Ukraine last month.
The Kremlin Critic posted a photo of the elderly Navalny’s passport on Twitter on Tuesday and said it was found next to a body in Bucha.
“Everything indicates that they killed him because of his last name. That’s why his passport was defiantly thrown nearby,” Navalny wrote.
“A completely innocent person was killed by Putin’s executioners (how else can I call them? definitely not ‘Russian soldiers’) because he is my namesake,” he added. “Apparently they were hoping he was a relative of mine.”
Navalny’s claims could not be independently verified.
The 45-year-old dissident is one of the most well-known critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Alexei Navalny shared a photo of Ilya Navalny’s passport found next to his body in Bucha, Ukraine.@navalny/Twitter
Undertakers move bodies to a morgue in Bucha April 18, 2022 as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues. Photo by Anastasia Vlasova/Getty Images
He was sentenced last month to nine years in prison for embezzlement and contempt, which his supporters say was fabricated to scuttle his ambitions as an opposition politician.
Navalny also survived a 2020 nerve agent attack with Novichok, a Soviet-era poison — which the Kremlin denies.
Navalny’s opposition party, Russia of the Future, was dissolved after Moscow officially labeled it an “extremist” movement.
With mail wires