Moscow urges US politician not to interfere Russian affairs

Western politicians who are making statements on the situation surrounding blogger Alexey Navalny should show respect for international law and Russia’s laws, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Facebook, Tass reported. 

"I would like to ask Mr. [Jake] Sullivan [US President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming national security advisor] - and other foreign politicians posting canned statements - to respect international law, refrain from infringing on the laws of sovereign states and tackle their own countries’ issues," she said.

Navalny, wanted for violating the terms of his suspended sentence in the Yves Rocher case, was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport upon arrival from Berlin on Sunday. Jake Sullivan called for his immediate release.

"On January 17, Alexey Navalny who is under a suspended sentence was detained by officers of the search section of the Moscow department of the Federal Penitentiary Service at the Sheremetyevo airport. He has been on the wanted list since December 29, 2020, for repeated violations of the probation term. Further measures of restraint will be determined by the court. Navalny will be in custody until a court ruling," according to a statement issued by the Moscow department of the Federal Penitentiary Service.

"Navalny was detained under the December 29, 2020 resolution of the chief of the Federal Penitentiary Service’s Moscow department which put convict Navalny on the wanted list for repeated violations of the terms of the probation period and issued an instruction to detain him when his whereabout are identified," it added.

According to the press service, Navalny’s attorney was notified about his placing on the wanted list and about a motion referred to Moscow’s Simonovsky district court on revoking his suspended sentence and enforcing the court verdict.

On December 30, 2014, Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky district court sentenced Navalny to 3.6 years in jail with a probation period of five years and a fine of 500,000 rubles (6,800 US dollars) on charges of fraud and money legalization. On August 4, 2017, the probation term was extended for one year.

RHM/PR