Suspects linked to Vilnius attack on Navalny ally Volkov arrested in Poland

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Three men who allegedly organised and carried out an attack last month in Lithuania on Russian opposition figure Leonid Volkov have been arrested, officials said Friday.

Issued on: 19/04/2024 - 18:01

1 min

Police cars stand near the house of Leonid Volkov, a close ally of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, in Vilnius, Lithuania on March 13, 2024.

Volkov -- a close ally of late Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny -- was briefly admitted to hospital after he was repeatedly struck with a hammer outside his home in Lithuania's capital Vilnius in mid-March.

On Friday, officials in Poland and Lithuania said that a Belarusian man who organised the attack and the two Polish assailants had been arrested in Poland.

"A Belarusian working for the Russians, who ordered two Poles to carry out the attack against the Navalny ally has been arrested", Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Niedoszły zamachowiec na prezydenta Zelenskiego, Polak działający w porozumieniu z rosyjskimi służbami - aresztowany 2 dni temu. Białorusin pracujący dla Rosjan, który zlecił dwóm Polakom zamach na współpracownika Nawalnego - zatrzymany. Zamachowcy też już w areszcie. Powiązani…

— Donald Tusk (@donaldtusk) April 19, 2024

"The assailants have already been detained," Tusk wrote, adding that they were allegedly "linked to radical hooligan circles", but without providing other details.

Lithuania President Gitanas Nauseda said that "two people suspected of having attacked the head of Russia opposition Leonid Volkov were detained in Poland".

Vilnius's prosecutor, Justas Laucius, said that "the suspects were detained on April 3 in Poland, in Warsaw", adding that the suspects were Polish citizens and that Volkov was attacked "because of his political activities and opinions".

The deputy head of Lithuania's criminal police, Saulius Briginas, said that the suspects were known to Polish police and that during the arrests, "five searches were carried out, which allowed the seizure of objects and proof necessary for the investigation".

The attack on Volkov came almost a month after Navalny's death in an Arctic prison, which Volkov blamed on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Lithuania hosts many Russian and Belarusian opposition activists.

(AFP)