Navalny says Kremlin emptied and froze his bank accounts
March 3, 2020
The 43-year-old is an outspoken opponent of President Putin and has made efforts to expose official corruption. Navalny said his accounts had been frozen, along with the bank cards of his wife, son, daughter and parents.
Image: Reuters/S. Zhumatov
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Anti-Kremlin activist Alexei Navalny said on Tuesday that Russian authorities had frozen all his bank accounts and those of his immediate family, in an effort to thwart his attempts to continue his opposition to the Kremlin.
In, addition, he said that money was stolen from the accounts.
The 43-year-old anti-corruption blogger, who has emerged as President Vladimir Putin's most prominent critic, was in no doubt who he felt was responsible for the financial "strangulation."
Protests in Moscow called by Navalny
Thousands participated in an unauthorized march in Moscow to protest the exclusion of candidates from the city's local election, which will take place next week.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/TASS/M. Grigoryev
Weekly protests
Protesters gathered in Moscow to reject the barring of some opposition and independent candidates from the Moscow City Council election on September 8. For the past month, demonstrators have shown their discontent on a weekly basis.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/TASS/M. Grigoryev
Freedom for political prisoners
Opposition politician Alexei Navalny's team organized the demonstration. The opposition leader was just recently released from a 30-day jail sentence for holding unsanctioned protests. In addition to rallying for banned candidates, marchers were also seen holding placards demanding freedom for political prisoners
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Sputnik/E. Biyatov
Demands 'right and reasonable'
Lyubov Sobol (right), an associate of Navalny and one of those whose candidacy had been rejected, took part in the demonstrations. "Our demands are right and reasonable. We have significant support, we have the right to be on the ballot," Sobol said. "I want political rights of Muscovites to be respected."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/E. Biyatov
Unauthorized assembly
The police have been criticized for their handling of the protests, which have seen some 2,000 people arrested. This time, officers did not try to detain protesters, but asked them to leave through loudspeakers. The march, like many, had not been authorized to take place, a legal requirement in Russia in recent years.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/TASS/S. Fadeichev
High political tension in Russia
Some clashes took place at the march between demonstrators and others seeking to disrupt the demos. Moscow's city council has relatively little power and its election does not usually garner this much attention. But the candidates' disqualification touched a nerve with citizens' frustration with their country's restrictive politics.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/TASS/S. Fadeichev
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Family affairs
"All accounts have been blocked," Navalny said on Twitter. He also posted a video on YouTube saying: "Putin stole money from the accounts of my entire family."
Navalny said his own bank accounts had been frozen as had the bank cards of his wife, son, daughter and elderly parents.
The opposition leader also took to his blog to further elaborate on the incident. "This is quite unpleasant, I won't deny it. My parents are elderly people, pensioners," he wrote. "My child is studying at the other end of the planet by herself. She's been left without a single cent."
The Kremlin-critic said that Moscow was retaliating against his "smart voting" campaign, which led to a number of Kremlin supporters losing their seats in local elections last fall.
In December last year, Navalny was "forcibly detained" by police during a raid on his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) headquarters in Moscow.
