Astrakhan picketers claim special services' guilt in poisoning Navalny

Activists in Astrakhan took to pickets in support of Alexei Navalny. They are convinced that the oppositional politician was poisoned, and this crime continued a series of similar assassination attempts.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the opposition leader Alexei Navalny is in a coma after being poisoned. Navalny's supporters have put forward a version of an attempt on his life. In many cities of Russia, including the regions of Southern Russia, actions were held demanding permission to transfer Navalny to a clinic abroad. It became known tonight that the doctors allowed transporting him by air to Berlin.

The pickets in Astrakhan were held in the evening on August 21. Elena Baibekova, an activist, stood with a poster reading "Vile KGB Power; dirty fighting methods".

"I believe that Navalny was poisoned," she told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "This is definitely a political action; I have no doubts. And these are those very 'dirty' methods of KGB agents."

Yaroslav Savin, a member of the political council of the regional branch of the "Parnas" Party, stood with a poster "You haven't enough poison and bullets for everyone; #Navalnylive".

"I believe that this is a politically motivated crime; and I went out to picket to express solidarity with Alexei and his supporters. Besides, such political crimes are interconnected. This is not the first attempt. It's known that special services use poisons. They tried to poison Politkovskaya, and Vladimir Kara-Murza, and Pyotr Verzilov, and Lyubov Sobol's husband; and Alexei Navalny is also not for the first time subjected to such an attack," Mr Savin told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 22, 2020 at 03:41 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.