Yulia Navalnaya Hires Bodyguard After Hammer Attack On Alexei Navalny’s Aide In Vilnius

LONDON: Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, told Time magazine that she had hired a bodyguard following a hammer attack on a senior ally of her late husband.

A hammer-wielding assailant attacked Leonid Volkov, a Navalny aide, outside his home in Vilnius, Lithuania, in March, breaking his arm and pounding his leg.

Lithuania’s counter-intelligence service accused Russia’s intelligence services of being behind the attack. The Kremlin declined comment but said people should respect President Vladimir Putin rather than be afraid of him.

Yulia Navalnaya, who lives outside Russia and has pledged to take up her husband’s battle against Putin, said the incident had prompted her to increase her personal security. “We have thought about some new security protocols. To be honest, I don’t really like to go around with a bodyguard,” Navalnaya told Time.

“Alexei and I never had security, and I think I inherited some of that courage, that cavalier attitude from Alexei,” she said. “But when you’re too cavalier, you can make a wrong move. So, for now, my colleagues have asked me to go around with a bodyguard. We don’t know what will come next, and taking such risks is definitely not a good idea.”

Navalny, Putin’s most formidable political foe, <a href="http://“>died in February at age 47 in an Arctic prison in circumstances his aides claim amounted to murder by the Kremlin. Prior to his death, the anti-corruption campaigner had worked to rally opposition to Putin despite being routinely arrested and facing legal troubles.

Russian authorities, who have outlawed Navalny’s movement as extremist, say he died of natural causes.
(REUTERS)