Kremlin Tells US 'Back Off' Navalny Case As Viral 'Putin Palace' Story Deflated
For a second straight weekend, Sunday saw more protests break out across major Russian cities in support detained Kremlin critic and opposition activist Alexei Navalny, with Reuters citing that more than 5,300 were detained amid a police crackdown.
Moscow is again telling the US to butt out of its internal affairs after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a statement condemning the arrests of demonstrators.
"The US condemns the persistent use of harsh tactics against peaceful protesters and journalists by Russian authorities for a second week straight," Blinken tweeted Sunday. "We renew our call for Russia to release those detained for exercising their human rights, including Aleksey Navalny."
In response Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov lashed out at the "illegal protests" which it had previously cast as being a manufactured controversy driven by outside support for the anti-Kremlin protest movement.
"We are not prepared to accept or heed American statements about this," said Peskov.
"There can be no conversation with hooligans and provocateurs, the law should be applied with the utmost severity," Peskov added of Navalny's supporters.
The dissident has been urging them to take to the streets from his jail cell. Tens of thousands took to the streets this past weekend, with many again clashing with police donned in riot gear.
Thats what I filmed today at the street protest in #Moscow, where people demanded the release of the jailed opposition leader Alexei #Navalny #Russia pic.twitter.com/00x4FYSw9p
— Elizaveta Vereykina (@LizaVereykina) January 31, 2021
Russia's prison service is urging a Moscow court to hand Navalny a sentence of up to three-and-a-half years in jail stemming from a 2014 criminal conviction for which he was on probation when in August of last year he was life-flighted to a Berlin hospital after an alleged nerve agent poisoning by Russian intelligence. He's been accused of skipping probation and then not returning the Russian soil as was previously mandated by the court.
Currently Navalny is serving a 30-day jail sentence as the court mulls additional charges which stem initially from the 2014 embezzlement case, which he's said was "politically motivated".
Things have also gotten interesting regarding Navalny's allegations that Putin has erected a $1.3 billion palace on the Black Sea. Navalny has charged that it was paid for "with the largest bribe in history".
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/kremlin-tells-us-back-navalny-case-viral-putin-palace-story-deflated