Russian detained in Poland on suspicion of orchestrating attack on Navalny associate

Poland has detained and charged a Russian man on suspicion of organising the violent attack earlier this year on the former chief of staff of late Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny.

On Thursday, independent Russian news outlet Sirena published an image showing part of an undated letter purporting to be from Poland’s National Prosecutor’s Office saying that the suspect, who can be named only as Anatoly B. under Polish privacy law, was being held in detention.

On Friday afternoon, the National Prosecutor’s Office published a statement confirming that Anatoly B., a Russian citizen, had been detained on 13 September and presented with three charges, including one of orchestrating the beating of a fellow Russian, who prosecutors named only as Leonid V.

Leonid V. is a former chief of staff to Navalny who was attacked outside his home in Vilnius using tear gas and a hammer. He was left with injuries including a broken arm.

The following month, Poland detained two men – both Polish citizens – on suspicion of carrying out the attack. A court spokesman said at the time that they were accused of “acting in an organised group, executing the orders of the special services of a foreign country”.

In its statement today, the National Prosecutor’s Office noted that the pair – who were named only as Igor C. and Maksymilian K. – remain in detention and have been charged with using violence against Volkov due to his nationality and political activities.

The prosecutors added that they currently have eight suspects in total in the case, four of whom are in detention. Six of the suspects are Poles, one is Belarusian and one, Anatoly B., is Russian.

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Earlier this month, the Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF) – an organisation founded by Navalny – claimed that the attack on Volkov was orchestrated by another Russian opposition figure, Leonid Nevzlin, a former vice president of oil company Yukos. Nevzlin denies any involvement.

In its investigation, ACF claimed that Anatoly B. – who is reportedly a former lawyer to late Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky – had been “tasked with organising the attack”. Lithuanian state broadcaster LRT reports that Anatoly B. lives in Poland.

Investigative news outlet The Insider also reported earlier this month that screenshots of messages, which it assessed to be authentic, indicated that Nevzlin and Anatoly B. had been involved in organising the attack on Volkov.

Main image credit: ABW (under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL)

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.