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| Raids and conscription: How Russian authorities have cracked down on Kremlin critics this week | Raids and conscription: How Russian authorities have cracked down on Kremlin critics this week |
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| MOSCOW — In Russian authorities’ latest crackdown this week on Kremlin critics, opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation office was raided Thursday, just days after one of his top aides was suddenly conscripted and sent to a desolate base in the Arctic. | MOSCOW — In Russian authorities’ latest crackdown this week on Kremlin critics, opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation office was raided Thursday, just days after one of his top aides was suddenly conscripted and sent to a desolate base in the Arctic. |
| Navalny, who was barred from running in Russia’s 2018 presidential election, said on Twitter that he was dragged out of the office by force before eventually being allowed to return. In the moments before his brief detention, Navalny live-streamed the raid as police used power tools to saw through the door. | Navalny, who was barred from running in Russia’s 2018 presidential election, said on Twitter that he was dragged out of the office by force before eventually being allowed to return. In the moments before his brief detention, Navalny live-streamed the raid as police used power tools to saw through the door. |
| С музыкой ещё атмосфернее pic.twitter.com/uPwHl2t1iH | С музыкой ещё атмосфернее pic.twitter.com/uPwHl2t1iH |
| “The picked the day not by chance — I was supposed to go on the air,” Navalny said on Twitter, referring to his YouTube channel. | “The picked the day not by chance — I was supposed to go on the air,” Navalny said on Twitter, referring to his YouTube channel. |
| There have been multiple raids on Navalny’s office this year, and he wrote on Instagram that the official reason for this one was related to his group’s refusal to take down a 2017 YouTube documentary that investigated alleged corruption involving Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. A criminal case was opened against Ivan Zhdanov, director of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, as a result, and Thursday’s search was apparently part of the investigation of that case, Navalny said. | There have been multiple raids on Navalny’s office this year, and he wrote on Instagram that the official reason for this one was related to his group’s refusal to take down a 2017 YouTube documentary that investigated alleged corruption involving Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. A criminal case was opened against Ivan Zhdanov, director of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, as a result, and Thursday’s search was apparently part of the investigation of that case, Navalny said. |
| Navalny says he will not take down the video, which has more than 32 million views. | Navalny says he will not take down the video, which has more than 32 million views. |
| Navalny is Russia’s most prominent and most vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin, which has made him and his allies targets of the Kremlin’s methods for keeping dissenting voices at bay. The European Court of Human Rights ruled last year that the multiple arrests of Navalny — there were seven from 2012 to 2014 alone — violated his rights and appeared to be part of a broader effort “to bring the opposition under control.” | Navalny is Russia’s most prominent and most vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin, which has made him and his allies targets of the Kremlin’s methods for keeping dissenting voices at bay. The European Court of Human Rights ruled last year that the multiple arrests of Navalny — there were seven from 2012 to 2014 alone — violated his rights and appeared to be part of a broader effort “to bring the opposition under control.” |
| More than 1,000 people detained in Moscow amid clashes over city council election, monitor says | More than 1,000 people detained in Moscow amid clashes over city council election, monitor says |
| The raid on his office comes less than a week after Ruslan Shaveddinov, a 23-year-old project manager for Navalny’s anti-corruption group, was forcibly conscripted into military service and flown to Novaya Zemlya, a group of islands in the Arctic so remote that the Soviet Union once conducted nuclear tests there. | The raid on his office comes less than a week after Ruslan Shaveddinov, a 23-year-old project manager for Navalny’s anti-corruption group, was forcibly conscripted into military service and flown to Novaya Zemlya, a group of islands in the Arctic so remote that the Soviet Union once conducted nuclear tests there. |
| Military service is mandatory for Russian males, who are drafted for one year sometime between the ages of 18 and 27. But in a blog post on his website, Navalny claimed that Shaveddinov has a documented medical issue that should exempt him from serving. Shaveddinov had argued that in a Moscow court earlier this year, but the decision to draft him was upheld Monday, the same day the door to his apartment was found smashed in and his cellphone’s SIM card was disabled. | Military service is mandatory for Russian males, who are drafted for one year sometime between the ages of 18 and 27. But in a blog post on his website, Navalny claimed that Shaveddinov has a documented medical issue that should exempt him from serving. Shaveddinov had argued that in a Moscow court earlier this year, but the decision to draft him was upheld Monday, the same day the door to his apartment was found smashed in and his cellphone’s SIM card was disabled. |
| Navalny has likened Shaveddinov’s conscription to kidnapping and imprisonment, adding that while he is not literally behind bars, he has a minder who is constantly with him. | Navalny has likened Shaveddinov’s conscription to kidnapping and imprisonment, adding that while he is not literally behind bars, he has a minder who is constantly with him. |
| “Service in the army has turned into a prison mechanism,” Navalny wrote on Twitter. | “Service in the army has turned into a prison mechanism,” Navalny wrote on Twitter. |
| Asked about Shaveddinov’s conscription and the optics of it, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday, “If he tried to evade military service and was drafted the way it was done, then it happened in strict compliance with the law.” | Asked about Shaveddinov’s conscription and the optics of it, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday, “If he tried to evade military service and was drafted the way it was done, then it happened in strict compliance with the law.” |
| Putin suggests altering constitution to limit presidential term | Putin suggests altering constitution to limit presidential term |
| The raid on Navalny’s office was not the only prominent one to occur in Moscow on Thursday. Novaya Gazeta, Russia’s biggest opposition newspaper, said in a statement that security forces “broke into” the apartment of reporter Yulia Polukhina. The newspaper said it believes the search was related to Polukhina’s recent investigations of “illegal military units” in eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists have been at war with Ukrainian forces since 2014, and smuggling. | The raid on Navalny’s office was not the only prominent one to occur in Moscow on Thursday. Novaya Gazeta, Russia’s biggest opposition newspaper, said in a statement that security forces “broke into” the apartment of reporter Yulia Polukhina. The newspaper said it believes the search was related to Polukhina’s recent investigations of “illegal military units” in eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists have been at war with Ukrainian forces since 2014, and smuggling. |
| “We are perplexed by the way the search was conducted: Early in the morning several investigators and special troops broke into an apartment of a mother with two children and took her away,” the statement said. “Yulia’s lawyer, Petr Zaikin, does not know her whereabouts and has no idea where he should go to attend interrogation.” | “We are perplexed by the way the search was conducted: Early in the morning several investigators and special troops broke into an apartment of a mother with two children and took her away,” the statement said. “Yulia’s lawyer, Petr Zaikin, does not know her whereabouts and has no idea where he should go to attend interrogation.” |
| Russia’s Investigative Committee, a federal body that functions as the country’s official anti-corruption agency, later announced that Polukhina’s apartment was searched in connection with a criminal case against a private military company. It said that authorities believe Polukhina could have materials confirming the company’s guilt. | |
| Polukhina will be released after an interrogation, the Investigative Committee said. | |
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