Yulia Navalnaya Added to Russia’s Official Terrorist and Extremist List

Russia Adds Yulia Navalnaya to Its Official Terrorist and Extremist List

Russia has recently taken action against Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the late opposition campaigner Aleksei A. Navalny. Yulia Navalnaya was charged in a Moscow court with “participating in an extremist community,” and she has now been placed on Russia’s official terrorist and extremist list by Rosfinmonitoring, the government body responsible for combating money laundering and terrorism financing.

This designation allows Russian authorities to block her bank accounts and restrict other financial activities. Yulia Navalnaya, who left Russia in 2021, has vowed to carry on her husband’s work after his tragic death in a Russian prison colony north of the Arctic Circle in February.

She has openly accused Russian President Vladimir V. Putin of being responsible for her husband’s murder and has been actively seeking support from Western officials to counter Mr. Putin’s regime. Despite her ongoing efforts, the Basmanny District Court in Moscow recently ordered her arrest and announced that she would be added to the country’s international wanted list, citing her involvement in an extremist community without specifying further details.

Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, labeled as an extremist group by Russian authorities in 2021, has been compelled to operate outside Russia to continue its mission of exposing corrupt practices among Putin’s elite. Yulia Navalnaya plays a significant role in the foundation as a member of the board of directors and leads the advisory board.

In response to the charges against her, Yulia Navalnaya issued a statement emphasizing Putin’s alleged crimes: “When you write about this, please do not forget to write the main thing: Vladimir Putin is a murderer and a war criminal. His place is in prison, and not somewhere in The Hague, in a cozy cell with a TV, but in Russia — in the same colony and the same two-by-three-meter cell in which he killed Alexei.”

The Anti-Corruption Foundation’s spokesperson has not yet commented on Yulia Navalnaya’s extremist list designation. Following Alexei Navalny’s death, initially reported as a result of a blood clot, further statements from Russian officials have caused controversy. The head of Russia’s foreign intelligence service claimed Navalny died of “natural causes,” while Putin referred to it as an “unfortunate incident.”

A lack of transparency surrounded Navalny’s death as his body was withheld from his family, hindering the possibility of an independent autopsy. This incident followed an earlier assassination attempt in 2020 when Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent during a trip to Siberia, an act attributed to Russia’s Federal Security Service by the U.S. government.

After receiving treatment in Germany, Navalny returned to Russia, where he was promptly arrested. Throughout his time in Russian prisons, Navalny faced deteriorating conditions, including repeated stays in solitary “punishment” cells without adequate heating. He was in one such cell at the time of his death.

Oleg Matsnev contributed to this report.