Lithuania: Russia’s Special Services Project Attacking Navalni Partner · Global Voices

Even from his last residence he seems to be a “threat” for Vladimir Putin, a few hours before the election in . Therefore he wants to intimidate anyone referring to the late leader of the Russian opposition. Or at least that’s what Lithuania thinks. Thus he takes the attack against Navaldi’s close associate, Leonid Volkov, in Vilnius, Lithuania, considering that Russia’s special services are behind it. Leonid Volkov reported that he suffered a fractured arm and wounds from about 15 hammer strikes in the leg in the attack carried out by an unknown man the other day, Tuesday 12.3.2024, at night, outside his house in Vilnius. Earlier today the Kremlin refused to comment on the attack, but said people should respect and listen to Russian President Vladimir Putin instead of fearing him, since “it seems that this is the work of Russia’s special services”, Darius Yauniskis, head of the Lithuania State Security Department, told reporters, without saying where this assessment was based. “We must pay more attention to the security of the Russian opposition (based in Lithuania)” he added. The agency had previously said that the attack was likely carried out to prevent the Russian opposition from affecting the presidential elections held in Russia on 15–17 March, in which Putin is expected to extend his 24-year rule for another six years. “We see that (the Russian intelligence agencies) are targeting this area very seriously and taking action… We see activity (military) in all three Baltic countries,” Yauniskis said today. Lithuania, a member of NATO and the European Union, has become the basis of policies of the Russian and Belarusian opposition. Volkov himself. Prior to Tuesday’s attack he told Reuters that the leaders of the Navalni movement in exile feared for their lives.