Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda says he will “responsibly consider” the recent allegations made by the team of the late Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny about the masterminds of the attack on his associate Leonid Volkov in Vilnius.
“We will always support the opposition as it is fighting against the Putin regime, and we will responsibly consider all statements about who organised what,” the president told reporters on Monday.
He made the remarks after Navalny’s team claimed last week that another opposition figure, businessman Leonid Nevzlin, ordered the attack on Volkov in Vilnius.
“In any case, I want to assure you that Lithuania will be a country where the free opposition will be able to operate freely and be safe, and this is a matter of honour for a civilised, democratic state, and I’m not only talking about the Russian opposition but also, of course, about the Belarusian opposition operating here in Lithuania,” Nausėda said.
In an investigation published last Thursday, the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), founded by Navalny who died in prison early this year, claims to have obtained Nevzlin’s correspondence, audio and video recordings proving that it was he who ordered the attacks on Volkov in Vilnius and two other associates of Navalny Argentina and Switzerland this spring.
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The initial plan was allegedly to kidnap Volkov in Lithuania and transport him to Russia. According to the FBK investigation, the businessman acted in this way probably in retaliation for the refusal of Navalny’s allies to cooperate with him.
Navalny’s associates claim that the information about Nevzlin was given to them by a person who is believed to have close ties to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).
Nevzlin, former vice-president of Russian oil company Yukos and a close ally of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, denies such allegations.
The Polish nationals suspected of attacking Volkov were arrested in Warsaw in April. A Polish court refused to extradite them to Lithuania because they are also suspected of criminal activity in Poland.
Volkov was attacked in his car outside his home in the Lithuanian capital late on March 12. The attacker broke the car’s window, sprayed tear gas, and started hitting Volkov with a meat mallet, breaking his arm and causing leg injuries.
Soon after the attack, Lithuanian politicians and experts accused the Kremlin regime and the Russian special services of being behind the attack.
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