Fri Sep 20 13:51:06 UTC 2024: ## Russian Man Charged in Poland for Hammer Attack on Navalny Aide
**WARSAW, POLAND** – A Russian man has been charged in Poland for a hammer attack on Leonid Volkov, a top aide to the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, in Lithuania earlier this year. The attack, which occurred in March, left Volkov hospitalized after he was repeatedly struck outside his home in Vilnius.
Prosecutors in Poland announced on Friday that Anatoly B., a Russian national, was arrested on September 13th and charged with orchestrating the attack. The motivation behind the attack is believed to be Volkov’s political activism.
The investigation is ongoing, with Polish authorities now looking into a total of eight individuals, including six Poles, a Belarusian, and the charged Russian suspect.
The attack has sparked a heated exchange between two prominent anti-Kremlin Russian opposition factions. The Navalny-founded Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) accused Leonid Nevzlin, a former executive at Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s oil company, of ordering the attack. Volkov himself echoed these allegations on social media.
Nevzlin, currently based in Israel, has vehemently denied any involvement. He accused the FBK of fabricating the allegations and claimed they are operating within the framework of the Kremlin’s information policy. Khodorkovsky, who lives in London, defended Nevzlin, calling him a “long-term business partner, comrade and friend.”
The attack highlights the ongoing tensions within the Russian opposition following the death of Navalny. The FBK has repeatedly accused the Kremlin of orchestrating Navalny’s death, which Moscow has denied.
Analysts say the Russian opposition is in desperate need of a unifying figure to move forward, particularly in the wake of Navalny’s death.
First Piper 