Kremlin critic Navalny slapped with new criminal charges

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MOSCOW (AP) Russian authorities have brought new criminal charges against jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny as part of a government crackdown on the corruption fighter and his besieged team ahead of the upcoming Russian parliamentary elections.

The Russian commission of inquiry said on Wednesday it accused Navalny of setting up a nonprofit organization that violates peoples’ rights, a criminal offense punishable by up to three years in prison.

Officials have alleged that the Navalnys Anti-Corruption Foundation, which was launched 10 years ago and has since released dozens of widely watched videos exposing the alleged corruption of senior government officials, instigated Russians to commit illegal actions by urging them to join unauthorized protests in January.

Navalny, 45, is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most ardent political enemy. He was arrested in January on his return from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from nerve poisoning he blames in the Kremlin, a charge rejected by Russian authorities.

In February, Navalny was ordered to serve 2 years in prison for violating the terms of a suspended sentence of a 2014 embezzlement conviction which he dismissed as politically motivated.

His arrest and imprisonment sparked a wave of mass protests that appeared to pose a major challenge for the Kremlin. Authorities responded with mass arrests of protesters and criminal charges against Navalny’s closest associates.

In June, a court banned the Anti-Corruption Foundation and a network of regional Navalnys offices as extremist organizations. The designation prevented those associated with the groups from running for public office and exposed them to long prison terms.

Russian authorities have also blocked around 50 websites run by his team or supporters for allegedly spreading propaganda from an extremist group and have opened a criminal investigation against Navalny’s main allies, Ivan Zhdanov and Leonid Volkov, in the part of a crowdfunding campaign.

Navalnys allies linked the crackdown to Russian parliamentary elections. The September 19 vote is widely seen as an important part of Putin’s efforts to cement his reign ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

The 68-year-old Russian leader, in power for more than two decades, pushed through constitutional changes last year that would potentially allow him to stay in power until 2036.

Some of Navalny’s main collaborators had planned to run in the parliamentary elections. The team of politicians also pledged to roll out its Smart Voting Strategy in Elections, a project designed to promote candidates most likely to defeat those of the ruling Kremlins party, United Russia.

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