A former aide to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was attacked on Tuesday.
Leonid Volkov, 43, was beaten with a hammer and doused in pepper spray as he sat in his car outside his home in Lithuania, according to multiple people who know him.
“Leonid is at home, the police and an ambulance are on their way to him,” wrote Navalny press secretary Kira Yarmysh in a post on X.
The attack comes as Russia continues to go after Navalny’s associates following the activist’s death in a Siberian prison on February 16.
Late last month, Russian authorities arrested his former lawyer on charges of “violating public order.”
READ MORE: Vladimir Putin ‘gave the order’ to free Navalny before ‘murder’ in cover-up plot
Volkov served as Navalny’s chief of staff during his 2018 presidential run against Vladimir Putin, 71.
The circumstances of the attack, as well as Volkov’s place of residence in a small village, has led some to speculate that the attack was ordered.
“That means this wasn’t a random street hooligan or a robber. This is a person who went there specifically to attack Volkov,” wrote journalist Sergey Parkhomenko on Telegram.
A former aide to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was attacked on Tuesday.
Leonid Volkov, 43, was beaten with a hammer and doused in pepper spray as he sat in his car outside his home in Lithuania, according to multiple people who know him.
“Leonid is at home, the police and an ambulance are on their way to him,” wrote Navalny press secretary Kira Yarmysh in a post X.
The attack comes as Russia continues to go after Navalny’s associates following the activist’s death in a Siberian prison on February 16.
Late last month, Russian authorities arrested his former lawyer on charges of “violating public order.”
READ MORE: Vladimir Putin ‘gave the order’ to free Navalny before ‘murder’ in cover-up plot
Pussy Riot member Nadya Tolokonnikova expressed dismay at the attack against her “dear colleague” in a post on X.
“Been just chatting with Leonid like 30 minutes ago WTF WTF WTF,” she wrote. “HITTING WITH A HAMMER WTF. PUTIN IS A KILLER.”
Navalny’s funeral was finally held on March 1, after Russian authorities delayed handing the body back to his mother for several days.
His cause of death has not been independently verified, though the prison where he had been held on various trumped-up charges, including extremism and embezzlement, said he died of “sudden death syndrome.”
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