Russia’s Putin will not go unpunished for Navalny’s death, wife Yulia says
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his associates will not go “unpunished” if the death of Alexey Navalny, as reported by Russian officials, turns out to be true, the Kremlin critic’s wife Yulia has said. Russia’s prison agency earlier said Navalny died on Friday in the Arctic penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence. The 47-year-old had crusaded against official corruption and staged massive anti-Kremlin protests as Putin’s fiercest foe. Navlany’s team said it has not yet received direct confirmation of his death and had only seen a general announcement by the regional judicial authorities. Yulia Navalnaya called upon the international community to come together and fight against the “horrific regime” in Russia, speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Friday in an appearance that was scheduled before the news of her husband broke. In her speech, she expressed some doubt over the veracity of the news of her husband’s death. “I don’t know whether we should believe the terrible news that we are receiving exclusively from Russian state sources,” said Yulia Navalnaya. “We cannot believe Putin and Putin’s government,” she added. “They always lie.” However, she called on the international community “to unite and fight evil”, and that Putin and his supporters would be held accountable soon. Earlier, Navalny’s mother Lyudmila Navalnaya said her son had been “alive, healthy and happy” when she last saw him on February 12, according to Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta. “I don’t want to hear any condolences. We saw him in prison on [February] 12, in a meeting. He was alive, healthy and happy,” Navalnaya mother said in a Facebook post, according to the publication. In his last public appearance before his reported death, Navalny spoke by videolink to a court on Thursday, Russian state media reported. Navalny did not complain about his health and “spoke actively, presenting arguments in defence of his position”, a regional court from the city of Vladimir, to the east of Moscow, told the RIA news agency. Separately Nikolaos Gazeas, a German lawyer for Navalny, told the daily Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger that he was stunned by the news of Navalny’s death after seeing images of him participating in the court hearing. “He made a fit and strong impression as usual,” he said, adding that a Russian colleague had visited Navalny on Wednesday while another was currently on his way to his prison to learn more about the circumstances of his death. Alexey Navalny and his wife Yulia in April 2015 [File: Tatyana Makeyeva/Reuters] ‘Navalny has become immortal’ Meanwhile, other Putin opponents also reacted strongly to the news of Navalny’s death. “There is nothing more the dictator can do to Navalny, Navalny is dead and has become immortal,” said Boris Akunin, a renowned Russian writer who lives in self-imposed exile in Europe. “I also think that a murdered Alexey Navalny will be a bigger threat for the dictator than a living one. Most likely, to drown out voices of protest, [Putin] will launch a campaign of terror in the country,” he told AFP. Russian Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov described Navalny’s death as “murder”. “Alexey Navalny was tortured and tormented for three years. As Navalny’s doctor told me: the body cannot endure such things. Murder was added to Alexey Navalny’s sentence,” he was quoted as saying by the Novaya Gazeta newspaper. Exiled Russian opposition politician Dmitry Gudkov said on social media, “Alexei’s death is a murder. Organised by Putin … Even if Alexei died of ‘natural’ causes, they were caused by his poisoning and further torture in prison.” Bill Browder, a British American businessman who was once among the biggest foreign investors in Russia before becoming a fierce regime critic, said on X, “Putin assassinated Navalny … He did so because Navalny was brave enough to stand up to Putin. He did so because Navalny offered the Russian people an alternative to kleptocracy and repression.” Adblock test (Why?)
What’s behind Israel’s threat to attack Rafah?
On February 12, Saleh Abou Ghanem heard Israeli warplanes buzzing in the sky from night until dawn. They were bombing Rafah, the southern Gaza town near the Egyptian border where 1.4 million Palestinians have sought relative safety from relentless Israeli attacks. While Abou Ghanem survived the attacks, he learned that his aunt was killed in her home by an Israeli bomb. “She was sleeping when she was martyred,” he told Al Jazeera. Last week, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his intention to expand military operations into Rafah. Two days later, Israel launched a series of strikes that killed dozens of people. Analysts believe Netanyahu’s stated plan is part of a broader plot to depopulate Gaza and extend his political survival, as many predict that he will be removed from his post after the war. But world leaders have warned that a full-scale assault on Rafah is a “red line,” despite few threatening to punish Israel if it goes through with the offensive. After being forcefully evacuated into Rafah, Palestinians have nowhere else to flee. Many fear that a military operation could lead to some of the worst violence in a war that has already killed more than 28,000 Palestinians following Hamas’s deadly attack on October 7, in which nearly 1,200 people were killed. “Some people have fled Rafah [since the recent attacks], but I don’t know where they went. There is nowhere to go. Where can anyone go?,” said Abou Ghanem, with resignation. Depopulating Gaza The looming military operation in Rafah intends to permanently displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinians over the border into Egypt, according to Omar Rahman, an expert on Israel-Palestine with the Middle East Council for Global Affairs think tank. He told Al Jazeera that Israel’s war on Gaza has always been a much broader campaign against the Palestinian population and not just Hamas. He said that Israel’s plans to attack Rafah are further proof. “The Israeli war machine is bearing down on Rafah with genocidal intent,” he said. Haneen Rizk, an employee in Gaza with the UN Relief Works Agency (UNRWA), which provides schooling, healthcare and other relief services to Palestinian refugees in the occupied territories and surrounding states, said that most people are just waiting to die. She added that some families returned from Rafah to their homes and communities in central and northern Gaza. But with at least 70 percent of Gaza’s homes destroyed or damaged, Rizk said that most people in Rafah have no alternative but to stay put. “If Egypt opens the border … most people would leave,” she told Al Jazeera. “But right now, it’s so expensive for anyone to try and afford to get into Egypt. It requires about $5,000 and so few people have that kind of money.” Egypt has sealed its border with Gaza since October 7. But Rizk was referring to private bus companies that charge hefty fees, which few in Gaza can afford, to transport Palestinians into Egypt. “Game of chicken” Since early in the war, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has publicly stated that he will not absorb Palestinian refugees out of concern that it would “end the Palestinian cause” and threaten Egypt’s national security. The Egyptian leader has called for a ceasefire to avert a humanitarian catastrophe that might complicate further his diplomatic relations with Israel. “I call it a game of chicken,” said Rahman. “The Israelis are hoping the Egyptians will concede by opening up the border [if pressured] and the Egyptians are hoping that they can buy enough time until Washington [ends] the war,” he told Al Jazeera. Egypt may already be budging. Local rights groups have reported that Egypt is building a “buffer zone” in its Sinai region to absorb Palestinians expected to flee from Rafah. However, Egypt has not confirmed the reports. CIA chief William Burns also recently visited Egypt’s capital Cairo to discuss the possibility of a temporary truce that would allow Hamas and Israel to exchange captives. Hamas captured about 240 Israelis during its attack on Israeli communities and military outposts on October 7, while Israel holds about 10,000 Palestinian prisoners for “security related’ offences — although many have not even been charged. Netanyahu has insisted on rescuing Israelis in Gaza via military means, despite objections from captives’ families who are pleading for a deal. Rahman believes that Netanyahu’s real motive is to maintain an occupation force in Gaza for a considerable period to prevent Palestinians from rebuilding their homes and to ensure that civilians live under constant fear. “Israel’s intention … is to keep the pressure on [Palestinians] to flee,” he said. Political ploy? Netanyahu’s political survival is also tied to maintaining the war in Gaza, according to Mairav Zonszein, an expert on the Israel-Palestine conflict with the International Crisis Group, a think tank dedicated to conflict prevention and resolution. Netanyahu’s popularity is low and many Israelis are calling for a national election after the war. Any national vote would likely remove Netanyahu from power, according to recent opinion polls. As a result, Zonszein believes that Netanyahu may delay a full-scale military operation on Rafah to prolong the war. “All of this talk about Rafah – and leveraging it for a hostage deal – is just a way for Netanyahu to bide more and more time,” she said. Palestinians in Rafah hope Netanyahu is bluffing, but many believe that an onslaught is imminent. Abou Ghanem, who lost his aunt, said that he just wants his three young children – two girls and one boy – to survive. “Children are dying every day … and we’re living like animals,” he told Al Jazeera. “Tell the world that we just want a ceasefire.” Adblock test (Why?)
Defence ministry clears procurement of military hardware worth Rs 84,560 crore
The procurement proposals were cleared by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
Who is Nathan Wade? Trump prosecutor Fani Willis’ former lover at center of courtroom controversy
Georgia prosecutor Fani Willis set out to bring an unprecedented case against former president Donald Trump for interference in the 2020 election, but her allegedly “improper” affair with special prosecutor Nathan Wade is overshadowing her efforts, and could get her disqualified. Wade was hired in 2022 to help prosecute the sweeping case against Trump and 18 other co-defendants on charges related to alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election, including racketeering, violating the oath of office, conspiracy to impersonate a public officer, forgery and false statements. Four co-defendants in the case alleged in subsequent court filings that Wade was romantically involved with Willis at the time he was hired and that she financially benefitted from his employment because of their relationship and lavish vacations they took together. Co-defendants have also alleged that Wade’s “lack of experience” prosecuting complex cases makes him “unqualified” to work the case and questioned why Willis hired him in the first place. GEORGIA DA FANI WILLIS WILL NOT TESTIFY FOR SECOND DAY ON ‘IMPROPER’ AFFAIR WITH NATHAN WADE A John Marshall Law School graduate, Wade worked in private practice at his firm Wade & Campbell prior to his work with the Fulton County DA’s office. “Whether you are in need of representation after a major car accident or are going through a change in your personal life that requires representation with a family law issue; whether you have a contract dispute, or whether you are involved in any type of civil litigation, Nathan J. Wade will be a zealous advocate for you,” his firm’s website reads. The New York Times reported that public records show “scant evidence” that he has prosecuted major criminal cases, with no evidence that he has handled a major political corruption case or one involving the state’s “complicated racketeering statute” under which all the defendants in the Trump case have been charged. FANI WILLIS RAISES EYEBROWS WITH WINK ON THE STAND, LABELS FORMER LOVER NATHAN WADE A ‘SOUTHERN GENTLEMAN’ In 1999, Wade spent four months as an assistant solicitor in the Atlanta suburb of Cobb County. From 2011 to 2021, he was an associate municipal court judge in Marietta, Georgia, handling misdemeanor cases. Wade ran for a seat on the bench of the Cobb County Superior Court three times between 2012 and 2016 but lost each time. 5 EXPLOSIVE MOMENTS FROM FANI WILLIS’ HEATED TESTIMONY IN TRUMP FULTON COUNTY CASE: ‘IF THIS HAPPENS AGAIN …’ Wade took the stand on Thursday during a tense court hearing to hash out evidence to allegations that Willis had financially benefitted from Wade’s employment. Both Willis and Wade testified that Wade had routinely paid for the trips and that Willis would reimburse him with cash. When repeatedly pressed about whether any records existed for her withdrawals of the funds, she said she was accustomed and taught by her father to keep six months of regular expenses on hand in cash. Wade took the stand earlier in the hearing. Craig Gillen, attorney for Trump co-defendant David Shafer who also asked the court to disqualify Willis, questioned Wade earlier about Willis’ repayments to him for vacations that had been made in cash. Wade admitted that he did not have deposit slips or receipts to support his claims. “You don’t have a single solitary deposit slip to corroborate or support any of your allegations that you were paid by Ms. Willis in cash, do you?” Gillen asked. “No, sir,” Wade said. “Not a single solitary one,” Gillen pressed. “Not a one.” Willis, in her testimony, called Wade a “southern gentleman.” Willis said her relationship with Wade ended roughly last summer but that the two remain “very good friends” and are “probably closer than ever because of these attacks.” Both Willis and Wade insisted that their relationship started in 2022, after Wade was hired. But they contradict testimony from Robin Yeartie, a former “good friend” of Willis and past employee at the DA’s office. Yeartie said she had “no doubt” the Willis and Wade’s relationship started in 2019, after the two met at a conference. Yeartie testified to observing Willis and Wade “hugging” and “kissing” and showing “affection” prior to November 2021, and that she had no doubt that the two were in a “romantic” relationship starting in 2019, to when she and Willis last spoke in 2022. Willis dismissed Yeartie’s testimony and said she no longer considers Yeartie to be a friend.
Former Illinois senator halts federal trial after abruptly admitting to fraud and money laundering
Former Illinois lawmaker and gubernatorial candidate William “Sam” McCann abruptly pleaded guilty on Thursday to nine felony counts of wire fraud, money laundering and tax evasion, halting his federal corruption trial over misusing up to $550,000 in campaign contributions. McCann, who cut off negotiations over a plea deal last fall when he dismissed his court-appointed attorneys, made the reversal on the third day of a bench trial before U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Lawless. His latest lawyer, Jason Vincent, of Springfield, asked that he be released from custody as part of the deal, but Lawless nixed the idea, telling McCann his only option was to offer a no-strings open plea. The seven counts of wire fraud and single count of money laundering each carry a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison. For tax evasion, it’s three. But a complex set of advisory guidelines before Lawless, who set sentencing for June 20, will likely yield a far shorter term. FORMER ILLINOIS SENATOR’S WIRE FRAUD AND MONEY LAUNDERING TRIAL DELAYED AGAIN “Are you pleading guilty because you are in fact guilty?” Lawless asked. The 54-year-old McCann, wearing the gray-and-black striped jumpsuit of the nearby county jail where he’s held, replied, “Yes, your honor.” Lawless set a hearing for Friday on McCann’s release request, but it’s certain to draw opposition from the government and not just because McCann violated probation last week when he left the state to check himself into a hospital with chest pains. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Bass told Lawless he would introduce as further evidence of McCann’s unreliability a bizarre social media video posted just this week in which McCann claims a government conspiracy involving an “ungodly pack of lies” is against him. FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO ILLINOIS HOUSE SPEAKER RECEIVES PRISON TIME FOR LYING UNDER OATH A state senator from 2011 to 2019, McCann formed the Conservative Party of Illinois to campaign for governor in 2018. A criminal indictment in 2021 outlined numerous schemes McCann employed to convert contributions from his campaign committees to buy vehicles, pay an overdue loan, two mortgages, credit card bills and fund a family vacation, entertainment and other purchases. For his unsuccessful run for governor, he collected more than $3 million dollars from Local 150 of the International Union of Operating Engineers alone. Despite being questioned four times by FBI and IRS agents in summer 2018 about alleged improper spending, he tore through $340,000 in leftover campaign funds for personal expenses in the year after the election. McCann’s trial was repeatedly delayed. On the day it was supposed to start last November, McCann announced he had dismissed his court-appointed attorneys and would represent himself, telling reporters afterward, “God’s got this.” The proceeding was reset for Feb. 5, but McCann didn’t show, sending a weekend email that he was in a St. Louis-area hospital. Back in court Feb. 12, a circumspect Lawless questioned McCann closely when he told her he was “medically and psychologically” unable to go to trial and ceded control of his defense to Vincent. At that point, McCann told the judge he had very little memory of anything that occurred after his Feb. 7 discharge from the hospital, including a 55-mile drive last Friday from his home to Springfield to surrender for skirting probation guidelines. He drove a pickup that matched the description of the one the indictment said he used $60,000 in campaign funds to partially purchase. PROSECUTION RESTS CASE IN CORRUPTION TRIAL FOR EX-ILLINOIS HOUSE SPEAKER’S ASSOCIATES On Tuesday, while McCann was in jail, the video appeared on Instagram. McCann was driving what appeared to be a truck and told his viewers he was innocent of the charges. He claimed an “Orwellian” government had attempted to nail him for failing to provide assistance on other investigations, offering an extravagant tale about a probe into McCann’s “unholy alliance” with then-House Speaker Michael Madigan to “rig an election. “I wouldn’t play ball. They came back to me and said, ‘Well, we have you on this,’” McCann says in the video. “And if you just tell us what we want to hear, we’ll stop digging. And I said ‘No, I’m not going to tell you what you want to hear. I will speak the truth.’” So federal agents continued digging and, McCann said, managed to “turn everything I’ve ever touched” into “these machinations of wrongdoing.”
Alexey Navalny: An archenemy Putin wouldn’t name and Kremlin couldn’t scare
Alexey Navalny, who churned out muckraking exposes of corruption in the Kremlin and led protests that propelled him to YouTube stardom – and the nearly lethal position of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s political nemesis – has died in a remote penal colony, prison authorities say. He was 47 and died on Friday in IK-3, one of Russia’s northernmost prisons. The lawyer and securities expert, who used to live with his wife, Yulia, and two children, Daria and Zahar, in a drab concrete high-rise in southeastern Moscow, rose to fame in the late 2000s by exposing the graft of top officials, including Putin. “Putin is the man who steals Russia’s future. I am taking part in this election to fight him,” Navalny said in 2017 when announcing his decision to run for president. “Under [Russia’s first democratically elected president, Boris] Yeltsin, corruption was problematic. Under Putin, it became systemic,” he wrote in 2012. First as a lone LiveJournal blogger and gradually with a team of researchers and producers, Navalny released dozens of investigations backed with bank records, leaked documents, maps, blueprints of properties, photos and drone footage. These reports identified and described how the country’s small elite lived in palaces in Russia and luxurious real estate abroad. He exposed their foreign passports and multibillion-dollar assets, their families’ unexpected wealth and well-paid jobs in Kremlin-controlled corporations. Navalny appears in the Moscow Regional Court via a video link from a Moscow detention centre on January 28, 2021 [File: Alexander Nemenov/AFP] His team disseminated the exposes via social networks, creating an online alternative to the Kremlin-backed media that dominate Russia. Millions subscribed to his YouTube channel, and the videos, often with Navalny as a presenter, were seen tens of millions of times. They also won professional praise. “I think there is a very high level of storytelling, dramatically and visually,” Askold Kurov, who filmed and co-produced Welcome to Chechnya, an award-winning HBO documentary, told Al Jazeera, describing Navalny’s documentary about a $1.35bn palace allegedly built for Putin. Released in January 2021, the 113-minute film, called Putin’s Palace, was seen by hundreds of millions of people. Meanwhile, Navalny’s Fund to Fight Corruption recruited hundreds of grassroots activists who “incited”, according to police, dozens of protests across Russia’s nine time zones. Even though the rallies triggered thousands of arrests, hundreds of trials and dozens of attacks and convictions, many protesters kept coming back, seeing Navalny as a catalyst for change – without necessarily agreeing with his ideas. “When asked, ‘Navalny or Putin?’ this is a strange question. In fact, we don’t have any choice. And that’s why Navalny is part of the force that demands this freedom of choice,” Aleksandr Siriskin, a Moscow-based actor who was sentenced to seven days in jail for taking part in a pro-Navalny rally in January 2021, told Al Jazeera. Less visible but no less effective were Navalny’s online projects that used crowdsourcing to identify corruption in thousands of government contracts, monitor regional and local elections, form trade unions of underpaid government employees and file legal complaints about potholed roads and leaking roofs. Kremlin-controlled media responded to Navalny’s investigations and popularity by branding him a “traitor”, a “NATO spy” and even a “political pedophile” who “lures” teenagers to rallies. Navalny’s jailing in early 2021 sparked protests across Russia [File: Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images] The negative coverage seemed to have worked. Only 19 percent of Russians approved of Navalny’s work and 56 percent disapproved of what he did, according to a February 2021 survey by the Moscow-based Levada Center polling organisation. Russians “get irritated when Alexey Navalny or someone else disturbs the habitual worldview. It even boils down to the transformation of passive conformism into aggressive rejection of all groups that confront the state”, Andrey Kolesnikov of the Moscow Carnegie Center, a think tank, wrote about the poll. ‘That character’ Putin, symbolically or superstitiously, never uttered Navalny’s name, calling him instead “that character”, “the aforementioned citizen”, a “sick man” and a “protege” of US intelligence agencies. “I’m like Lord Voldemort. Putin cannot say my name out loud,” Navalny told this reporter in 2018, referring to the main villain in the Harry Potter novels and movies. He was standing in his Moscow office that had just been raided by police, who took away laptops, documents, leaflets and handouts. After the 2015 shooting death of charismatic opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, most of Putin’s critics gravitated towards Navalny. “He is supported by both the youngsters who saw nothing but Putin’s rule and who have no economic or political future under the current system as well as of those who didn’t become beneficiaries of Yeltsin’s and Putin’s eras,” Pavel Luzin, an analyst with the Jamestown Foundation, a think tank in Washington, DC, told Al Jazeera. Navalny’s current supporters include some former critics of his nationalist stance. Beginning in the late 2000s, Navalny used racial slurs when describing ethnic Georgians, called for the deportation of Muslim migrant workers and delivered speeches at Russian Marches, annual rallies of far-right nationalists, white supremacists and neo-Nazis. “It was a long time ago,” Alexander Verkhovsky, head of the Moscow-based Sova hate crimes monitor, told Al Jazeera in 2021, describing Navalny as “a different man now”. Municipal workers paint over a mural of Navalny in St Petersburg on April 28, 2021 [File: AP] Navalny coined characterisations that became instant viral memes. The ruling United Russia party was a “party of crooks and thieves”, Putin “a grandpa in the bunker”. His misfortunes, including arrests and suspected poisonings, generated popular jokes, a badge of honour in Russia, where political humour is often as dangerous as “serious” dissidence. But to the Kremlin, he was no joke. It orchestrated – according to Navalny, independent lawyers and human rights groups – his unending persecution and “fabricated” trials. In 2013, he was sentenced to five years in prison for embezzling $500,000 from a timber company, but the judge replaced it with a suspended sentence after the ruling sparked massive protests. The European Court for Human Rights ordered Russia’s
“It’s not complex, it’s genocide” Former top UN official on Gaza
‘Israel operates under a climate of absolute impunity,’ says Craig Mokhiber, former top UN official. Since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza the United Nations has been under pressure. More than 85 percent of the Gazan population is currently homeless and living in dire conditions, while the UN remains in political gridlock. Three weeks after the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza, the former director of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Craig Mokibher, resigned from his post, protesting that the UN was “failing” in its duty to prevent what he called a “textbook case of genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza. He also accused the US and most of Europe of being complicit. So, is the UN failing in its duty to prevent the massacre in Gaza? And what is at stake for the future of Palestine? On UpFront this week, Marc Lamont Hill discusses the role of the UN in Israel’s war on Gaza with Craig Mokhiber, the former director of the New York office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Adblock test (Why?)
Alexey Navalny timeline: From poisoning to prison to death
Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny died on Friday in the Arctic penal colony where he was serving a 19-year-term, the country’s prison authorities have said. Navalny lost consciousness after a walk and could not be revived by medics, the prison service said. The 47-year-old was Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critic, and spent much of his time in recent years either in prison or recovering from attacks — including a near-deadly poisoning attempt that grabbed the world’s attention and became emblematic of the risks faces by the Kremlin’s opponents. Here’s a look at some of the key moments in his life since that attempted poisoning. August 20, 2020 – Navalny is hospitalised in the Siberian city of Omsk after falling ill and losing consciousness while on a flight over Siberia. Navalny’s spokeswoman says he was poisoned, perhaps by a cup of tea he drank prior to the takeoff from Tomsk’s Bogashevo airport, but Russian doctors treating him say they have found “no trace” in his blood or urine. August 22, 2020 – Navalny is airlifted to Charite hospital in Germany’s capital, Berlin, for treatment. The Russian medical team treating him had initially refused the move before later releasing him. German doctors say their tests indicate Navalny was poisoned. September 2, 2020 – German officials say there is “unequivocal proof” Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent, a Soviet-era chemical weapon. Chancellor Angela Merkel says Navalny is a victim of attempted murder, adding there are “serious questions that only the Russian government can and must answer”. International calls for an investigation into the incident mount. September 3, 2020 – The Kremlin rejects claims, including those made by Navalny’s team, that Moscow was behind the poisoning. September 4, 2020 – A Russian toxicologist says Navalny’s health could have deteriorated because of dieting, stress or fatigue, insisting no poison had been found in his body. September 7, 2020 – German doctors say Navalny is out of an artificial coma. September 11-13 – Russia holds local elections during which Navalny’s allies make gains in Siberian cities. September 14, 2020 – Laboratories in France and Sweden confirm Germany’s findings that Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent. French President Emmanuel Macron urges Putin to shed light on the “attempted murder”, but the Russian leader only condemns what he describes as “unsubstantiated” accusations. September 15, 2020 – Navalny posts a message on Instagram saying he is able to breathe unaided, appearing with his wife Yulia and two children, sitting up in bed looking gaunt. September 17, 2020 – Navalny’s aides say they have discovered traces of Novichok on a bottle taken from the hotel in Siberia where he stayed before falling ill. September 21, 2020 – Navalny says Western laboratories have found traces of Novichok in and on his body and he demands Moscow return his clothes from the day he fell ill. September 22, 2020 – Navalny is discharged from hospital and doctors say a “complete recovery is possible”. The Kremlin says Navalny is welcome to return to Moscow, while his spokeswoman says Russia froze his assets while he was in a coma. October 1, 2020 – Navalny accuses Putin of being behind his poisoning, and says he will not give the Russian president the pleasure of being in exile. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov accuses Navalny of working for the CIA and calls his claims “groundless and unacceptable”. December 14, 2020 – Citing flight records and mobile phone geolocation data, investigative website Bellingcat and Russian media outlet The Insider publish results of a joint investigation into Navalny’s alleged poisoning. In cooperation with Der Spiegel and CNN, and endorsed by Navalny, they claim to have identified a team of assassins from Russia’s FSB security service who have stalked him for years. It names intelligence officers and poison laboratories it says were behind the operation. December 21, 2020 – Navalny releases a recording of him appearing to trick an FSB agent into confessing that he tried to kill him by putting poison in his underpants. The FSB denounces the video clip of the phone call as “fake”. December 28, 2020 – Russia’s prison service gives Navalny a last-minute ultimatum, telling him to fly back from Germany at once and report at a Moscow office the following morning. The prison service warns Navalny he will be jailed if he returns after the deadline. Navalny’s spokeswoman says it is impossible for him to return in time, adding that he is still convalescing after his poisoning, and accuses the prison service of acting on orders from the Kremlin. January 12, 2021 – Court documents reveal a Russian judge has been asked to jail Navalny in absentia for, among other infractions, having allegedly broken the terms of a suspended sentence he had been serving. January 13, 2021 – Navalny posts a video on Instagram announcing plans to return home to Russia. “It was never a question of whether to return or not. Simply because I never left. I ended up in Germany after arriving in an intensive care unit for one reason: they tried to kill me,” he says. January 17, 2021 – Navalny flies home to Russia from Germany. He is detained shortly after landing at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport. The arrest provokes condemnation from several European and world powers and a chorus of calls for his immediate release. January 18, 2021 – A Russian judge remands Navalny in pre-trial detention for 30 days for violating the terms of his suspended jail sentence at a hastily arranged court hearing in a police station on the outskirts of Moscow. Navalny urges Russians to take to the streets in protest in the wake of the decision. “Don’t be afraid, take to the streets. Don’t go out for me, go out for yourself and your future,” he says in a video published on social media. February 2, 2021 – A Moscow court orders Navalny to serve two-and-a-half years in prison for his parole violation. While in prison, Navalny stages a three-week hunger strike to protest a
Weather update: IMD issues snowfall, rainfall, hailstorm alerts in these states till Feb 19, check forecast
IMD suggests that cold waves and fog prevalent in the national capital Delhi, Punjab, and Rajasthan are expected to dissipate from February 16 onwards
Mastering Front Crawl Swimming: Essential Techniques For Beginners and Beyond
You can practice different swimming strokes as part of your swimming routine and difficulty level.