Navalny supporters, meanwhile, say his medical condition is deteriorating rapidly. His press secretary said Navalny was “dying” and his doctors said medical tests showed an increasing risk of kidney failure and heart problems.
If approved, the prosecutors’ proposal could have serious consequences for Navalny’s team in Russia. Under Russian law, “extremist” organizations could be banned and liquidated, and activists who continue to work with them are likely to face prison sentences of up to ten years.
“Under the guise of liberal slogans, these organizations are engaged in creating conditions for the destabilization of the social and socio-political situation,” the prosecution said in a statement on Friday.
The statement added that the goals of opposition organizations are to encourage “color revolutions,” a reference to the popular uprisings in the former Soviet republics that Russia believes have been supported by Western governments.
“The real goals of their activities are to create conditions for changing the foundations of the constitutional system, including the use of the ‘color revolution’ scenario.”
Navalny continues the hunger strike
They say the latest medical tests showed he has a growing risk of kidney failure and heart problems.
CNN cannot independently verify Navalny’s health.
The letter shared on Twitter by a key ally of Navalny and head of a prominent opposition doctors ’union, Anastasia Vasilyeva, said Navalny’s doctors have serious concerns about her current state of health.
“We urgently request the holding of negotiations and urgent medical advice with the medical workers of medical unit No. 33 to discuss the diagnostic tests performed and the treatment to be prescribed, as well as to remove the patient from a critical condition that threatens a fatal outcome, “said a copy of the letter shared by Vasilyeva. “We ask to be admitted to our patient’s examination, which has been observed for many years.”
Earlier this week, FSIN told CNN in a statement that Navalny was treated from April 5-9 in a medical unit of the No. 2 penal colony in Pokrov, where he is imprisoned. The statement indicates that Navalny was transferred back to his prison team due to an “improvement” in his health.
Navalny said Friday in a post on his official Instagram account that he is threatening with forced food while a hunger strike continues. Navalny said Friday that his blood test results show his health is deteriorating.
He has been diagnosed with two hernias and is losing sensation in both hands, one of his lawyers, Olga Mikhailova, said in an interview with Russian media last week.
He is on hunger strike in protest of prison officials refusing to grant him access to proper medical care. The Kremlin said this week that it would not give it special treatment.
CNN has filed a request with the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) for a statement on Navalny’s health.
When President Joe Biden left the Wilmington Country Club in Delaware on Saturday, he was asked about Alexei Navalny’s status in prison. He told reporters it is “totally unfair, totally inappropriate.”
The press secretary urges supporters to concentrate
Although Navalny has been imprisoned, his team has continued to work against corruption and organize protest rallies to support the opposition figure.
Kyra Yarmysh, Navalny’s press secretary and aide, calls on Navalny’s supporters to join a rally that was intended to demand her freedom but is now “a condition for her life.”
Yarmysh said that “now Alexey is dying. In his state, it’s a matter of days. And on weekends, lawyers just can’t get to him, and no one knows what will happen on Monday.”
Yarmysh is under house arrest and has no access to electronic devices. His team said they released the post on his behalf. They said Yarmysh still maintains communication with his lawyers and can pass on some information and statements for publication.
No date has been announced for the rally. His team said they will announce a date for the rally when they reach 500,000 signatures.
FBK published a widely viewed investigation in January into what it claims is a palace owned by Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea, which is estimated to be worth more than $ 1 billion. Putin has denied that the palace belongs to him or his family members and his own helpers.
Russia has designated other “extremist” groups
In 2017, Russia’s Supreme Court banned Jehovah’s Witnesses as an “extremist organization”. Other groups that have been designated as “extremists” include far-right and Islamist organizations.
Navalny’s organizations had faced pressure before Russian authorities were subjected to raids and searches, and in 2019, Russia’s justice ministry appointed FBK as a group of foreign agents.
“We know how to work in conditions of constant searches and frozen accounts, in conditions of administrative arrests and criminal cases. We have been building our political organization for ten years, we have learned to survive under unthinkable pressures, change, be effective and win situations. more impossible, “Ivan Zhdanov, director of FBK, and Leonid Volkov, chief of staff of Navalny, said on Friday.
“It is clear that the new attack by the Kremlin is linked to the next rally and the September elections. So it is clear what the answer should be: hold a rally (perhaps this is the last rally in the coming years) and win elections (perhaps these are the last elections for many years), “the statement continued.