A member of the next team of the president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden, has requested this Sunday the “immediate” release of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalni, detained upon arrival at the Moscow airport, in addition to demanding the “accountability” of those responsible for this “scandalous attack”.
“Mr. Navalny must be released immediately and the perpetrators of the scandalous attack on his life must be held accountable,” said Jake Sullivan, who will be the next National Security Advisor in the Biden Administration, if the Senate approves his nomination. .
“The Kremlin’s attacks on Mr. Navalny are not only a violation of Human Rights, but an affront to the Russian people who want his voice to be heard,” Sullivan has expressed through his Twitter account.
Navalni was arrested at the Moscow-Sheremetievo International Airport, where he landed this Sunday on a flight from Germany, a country where he has recovered from the poisoning suffered last year and of which he accuses the Russian authorities.
“Agents of the Border Police have taken Alexei without giving any reason. They did not allow his lawyer to go with him,” Navalni spokeswoman Kira Yarmish explained through her Twitter account of hers. “We do not know how Alexei is, in what state he is or where he is,” she added.
Later, the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia (FSIN) reported that Navalni was detained because “a conditional sentence is pending and since December 29, 2020 he has been in search for numerous violations of the trial period,” according to the agency of Russian news Sputnik. Navalni will remain in custody pending a court ruling, the FSIN added.
Sullivan’s statements come a few days after the inauguration of Biden, who is expected to increase the pressure against Russia, after the president-elect himself assured in a statement issued on the occasion of the Navalni poisoning that he would work to hold accountable ” to the regime “of the president, Vladimir Putin,” for his crimes.
“The mode of attack leaves no doubt about where the responsibility lies: the Russian state. (…). It is the mark of a Russian regime that is so paranoid that it is not willing to tolerate any criticism or dissent,” Biden accused .
“The Kremlin thinks it can act with impunity. Donald Trump has refused to confront Putin, calling him an ‘excellent person’. (…) He has yet to condemn the attack on Mr. Navalni. His silence is complicity.” he asserted.
