Navalny in Russia Accused of Fraud

Russia opens an investigation against Alexei Navalny, one of the most outspoken critics of Russian President Putin.

He allegedly pocketed money raised for charities, a Russian government investigative committee said Tuesday. It would be “large-scale fraud”.

Navalny is suspected of having spent 356 million rubles that were actually intended for multiple organizations he is involved with. These include organizations that work for human rights and the fight against corruption.

Navalny became seriously ill onboard a Russian domestic flight at the end of August. Experts later determined that he had been poisoned with a Novichok nerve poison. He survived the attack and was released after 32 days from a hospital in the German capital Berlin where he had been taken.

In 2014, the Kremlin critic already received a 3.5-year suspended prison sentence for misappropriating money at companies.

According to Russian authorities, Navalny had to report to Moscow on Tuesday if he did not want to run the risk of ending up in jail for violating the terms of his sentence. But according to a spokesman for Navalny, he is still working on his recovery in Germany.