Russia has ordered diplomats from Germany, Poland and Sweden, who they say participated in the nationwide Navalny protests, to leave the country “shortly” after declaring them “persona non grata”. The Kremlin Foreign Ministry said on Friday that the foreign officials had participated in demonstrations calling for the government to release opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was arrested on his return to Russia after an attempted poisoning on the orders of President Vladimir Putin. last summer.
Tens of thousands of people across Russia protested Navalny’s arrest on January 23. Navalny has since been sentenced to two years and eight months in prison on charges condemned as dubious by international observers. The opposition leader was back in court on Friday, pleading not guilty to defamation of a Russian World War II veteran who was featured in a video supporting the Kremlin. Navalny referred to people in the video as “corrupt front men” and “traitors.”
Read it up AP