MOSCOW (AP) – A top associate of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was released on Sunday from detention and said she was charged with rape after ringing the bell of an alleged security guard who , without realizing it, revealed details of Navalny’s alleged poisoning with a Soviet-era nerve agent.
Lyubov Sobol, a key figure in the Navalny Anti-Corruption Foundation, was arrested on Friday for 48 hours after a day of interrogation. The move followed Sobol’s attempt on Monday to reach the alleged agent at his Moscow apartment, whom Navalny had previously tricked into revealing details of his alleged poisoning.
Sobol and his allies denied the allegations and claimed he did not break any law by ringing the doorbell of the apartment. While questioning Sobol, the State Investigation Committee issued a statement accusing her of rape of violence, criminal charges that carry a sentence of up to two years in prison.
Shortly after her release from custody on Sunday, Sobol told reporters she had been formally charged and insisted the case against her was a “revenge” on Navalny.
On Monday, Navalny released the recording of a phone call that told a man he identified as Konstantin Kudryavtsev and described him as an alleged member of a group of Federal Security Service (FSB) officers, who allegedly he poisoned him with the Soviet — he was Agent Novichok in August and then tried to cover him up.
Navalny, who is in convalescence in Germany, said he called the man hours before the Bellingcat research group released a report alleging that FSB agents with specialized training in chemical weapons followed him for years and who were nearby when he was poisoned.
In the call, Navalny introduced himself as a security officer and tricked his interlocutor by sharing details of the alleged poisoning operation and acknowledging that he was involved in “processing” Navalny’s underwear so that “he would not be left behind. no trace “of poison.
Navalny fell ill during the August 20 flight to Russia and was taken to Berlin while in a coma for treatment two days later. Laboratories in Germany, France, and Sweden, and tests by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, established that he was exposed to a Novichok nerve agent from the Soviet era.
Russian authorities have vehemently denied any involvement in the poisoning and the FSB dismissed the recording published by Navalny as false.
Earlier this year, Sobol announced that he would run in next year’s parliamentary elections, which are important for the Kremlin, because they will determine who controls the State Duma in 2024. That’s when the current one expires. term of Russian President Vladimir Putin and he will be able to seek re-election, thanks to a constitutional reform that would restore his term limits.