Alexey Navalny's former chief of staff, Leonid Volkov, was interviewed by Reuters on Tuesday (12/3), hours before a former Navalny spokesman said that Volkov was attacked with a hammer at his home, in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius.
“Volkov was just attacked outside his house. Someone broke the car window and sprayed tear gas in his eyes, after which the perpetrator started beating Leonid with a hammer,” Navalny's former spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, said on platform X. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis called the attack “shocking”.
In a Reuters interview before the attack, Volkov discussed the dangers facing the Russian opposition.
“Our work is filled with extremely complex challenges, enormous pressure and high individual risks for everyone,” he explained, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering assassinations in Russia and abroad.
Opponents of Putin accuse the Kremlin of complicity in the deaths of those who oppose him or oppose his interests and die mysteriously.
Navalny, Russia's most prominent opposition leader, died last month at the age of 47 in a federal prison in Siberia. His supporters suspect he was murdered. The Kremlin denies any state involvement in his death. (rd/rs)