Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, who was being held in the penal camp, celebrated the second anniversary of his poisoning as his birthday. “For the second time I’m celebrating my second birthday. The day I was killed but I didn’t die for whatever reason,” the 46-year-old wrote in a prison camp greeting posted to Instagram on Saturday. In it, he once again blamed Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin for the August 20, 2020 assassination attempt with the deadly neurotoxin Novichok. And he criticized that the case has not yet been officially investigated. The Kremlin denies that there was a crime.
Because of the alleged fraud, Putin’s fiercest opponent is being held in penal colony 6 in Melekhovo, near the town of Kovrov, about 260 kilometers northeast 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 again that a research team from a Russian domestic secret service FSB group had proven the murder. “As I survived, the Kremlin became so bitter that they sentenced me first 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 Russia’s entire political system. “The system has dropped all the masks; At the end of January 2021, it became repressive and authoritarian without hesitation,” said Navalny, who returned to his homeland after treatment in Germany despite the threat of arrest. This is what happens when someone stains their panties with Novichok without success, Navalny said on his return.
It is said that FSB agents applied the chemical warfare agent to Navalny’s underwear in a hotel. Shortly afterwards, on August 20, 2020, he passed out on a flight to Moscow. He was taken first to a Russian hospital and then to Germany, where he was treated at the Berlin Charité. Several laboratories have detected the internationally banned war agent Novichok.