Protests in Russia

  • Russian Opposition leader Alexei Navalny called for nationwide protests after he was arrested.
  • The Russian authorities arrested him after he returned to Moscow from Germany for the first time since his poisoning in August 2020. 
  • Thousands of people have taken to the streets demanding the Navalny’s release.

WHO IS ALEXEI NAVALNY

  • Navalny, a lawyer-turned-activist, is a Russian Opposition Coordination Council member, the leader of the Russia of the Future party and the founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK).
  • He came to prominence in 2008 after he started exposing corruption in Russian politics through a blog. 
  • In 2018, he was barred from standing against Putin in the presidential elections.

ALEXEI NAVALNY POISONING

  • Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent and was hospitalized in a serious condition. 
  • During a flight from Siberian city of Tomsk to Moscow, he became violently ill and was taken to a hospital in Omsk after an emergency landing there, and put in a coma. 
  • He was evacuated to the Charité hospital in Berlin, Germany, two days later. 
  • After the treatment, Navalny decide to go back to Russia.

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