Jul 9, 2024 - World

Russian court orders arrest of Yulia Navalnaya

Sareen Habeshian

Yulia Navalnaya, widow of late Russian opposition figure Aleksei Navalny, waits to catch an Uber after she voted in Russian elections on March 17, 2024 in Berlin, Germany. Presidential elections in Russia, which are taking place without any meaningful opposition candidates allowed, will conclude tod — Yulia Navalnaya on March 17 in Berlin. Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

A Russian court on Tuesday ordered Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Alexei Navalny, to be arrested in absentia.

The big picture: After her husband's death, Navalnaya had pledged to continue the Russian opposition leader's work to bring democracy to Russia.

Driving the news: The Moscow court accused Yulia Navalnaya of participating in an extremist organization and approved a request from investigators to detain her for two months as a preventive measure.

What she's saying: "When you write about this, please do not forget to write the main thing: Vladimir Putin is a murderer and a war criminal," Navalnaya wrote in Russian on X.

"His place is in prison, and not somewhere in The Hague, in a cozy cell with a TV, but in Russia - in the same colony and the same 2 by 3 meter cell in which he killed Alexei."

Catch up quick: Navalny, 47, died in prison earlier this year after exposing corruption in Putin's inner circle and forming the most effective political movement against Putin.

Go deeper: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's memoir to publish in October

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Russian court orders arrest of Yulia Navalnaya

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