MOSCOW (AP) – A top employee of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was released from detention on Sunday and said she was charged with trespass after calling an alleged security officer who accidentally revealed details of Navalny’s alleged Soviet-era nerve agent poisoning. .
Lyubov Sobol, a key figure in Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, was detained for 48 hours on Friday after a day of questioning. The move followed Sobol’s attempt on Monday to reach the alleged agent in his Moscow apartment who had previously tricked Navalny into revealing details of his alleged poisoning.
Sobol and her allies denied the charges, claiming she had not broken the law by ringing the bell at the apartment. While Sobol was being questioned, the state’s commission of inquiry released a statement accusing her of violent trespass – criminal charges with up to two years in prison.
Shortly after her release on Sunday, Sobol told reporters she had been formally charged and insisted that the case was against her “revenge” on Navalny.
On Monday, Navalny released the recording of a phone call he had made with a man he identified as Konstantin Kudryavtsev and who he described as an alleged member of a group of officers from the Federal Security Service, or FSB, who allegedly poisoned him with the Soviet. -Union. -era Novichok agent in August and then tried to hide it.
Navalny, who is recovering in Germany, said he called the man hours before the Bellingcat research group released a report claiming that FSB agents with specialized training in chemical weapons followed him for years and were close by when he was poisoned.
In the call, Navalny introduced himself as a security officer and enticed his interlocutor to share details of the alleged poisoning operation and acknowledge that he was involved in “processing” Navalny’s underwear so that “there would be no traces” of poison.
Navalny fell ill during the August 20 flight in Russia and was flown to Berlin two days later while still in a coma for treatment. Labs in Germany, France and Sweden, and tests by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, showed he was exposed to a Soviet-era Novichok nerve agent.
Russian authorities have vigorously denied any involvement in the poisoning and the FSB has dismissed the recording released by Navalny as fake.
Earlier this year, Sobol announced that she would run in next year’s parliamentary elections, which are important to the Kremlin as they will determine who controls the Duma in 2024. At that point, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s current term expires and will be able to push for reelection, thanks to a constitutional reform that has reset his terms.