Attempted murder in Lithuania?
Navalny confidant Volkov attacked with hammer at home
March 12, 2024, 10:24 p.m
In Lithuania, one of the most famous Russian opposition figures, Leonid Volkov, is attacked with a hammer in front of his house. He is injured but is alive. Volkov has been a thorn in the side of the Kremlin leadership for a long time.
Leonid Volkov, a confidant of the dead Alexei Navalny and one of the most important voices of opponents of the Kremlin leadership, was attacked in front of his house, according to a spokeswoman for the opposition figure. “Someone broke a car window and sprayed tear gas in his eyes, after which the attacker began hitting Leonid with a hammer. Leonid is now at home, police and ambulance are on the way to him,” wrote Kira Yarmysh on X.
Novaya Gazeta published pictures of Volkov’s leg bleeding. He also appears to have an injury to his head. The destroyed side window on the driver’s side of a car can also be seen.
Volkov lives in exile in Lithuania. In his book “Putinland”, the expanded edition of which was recently published, the politician describes how the Russian regime works – a system that, in Volkov’s words, is “on the verge of catastrophe.”
Russia: “Pathetic outsider”
In an interview with ntv.de a few weeks ago, Volkov said, among other things, that Putin “must be fought and he must be destroyed.” A choice of words that met with sharp criticism from Russia. The Russian Embassy in Germany published a post on X criticizing the interview and the statement.
The letter also said: “We are deeply indifferent to the opinions of pathetic outsiders whose sole purpose in life is to multiply hatred against their own country.” If the current attack on Volkov originated in the Kremlin, for which there is currently no evidence, the Russian leadership’s opinion may not have been so “indifferent” after all.
In Russia, opposition members are intimidated, locked up and sometimes even killed. Many of them went into exile because of this. A few weeks ago, Russian defector Maxim Kuzminov was shot dead in Spain. The newspaper “El País”, citing Spanish intelligence circles, blamed contract killers from Moscow for this. Evidence from ntv.de also led to the Russian capital.
The presidential “election” will take place in Russia on Sunday. Navalny’s widow called for protests against Putin on election day.