Russian court orders arrest of Alexei Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, in absentia

A court in Moscow on Tuesday ordered a two-month detention in absentia of Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny.

The court accused Navalnaya, who lives outside Russia, of membership in an “extremist” group.

The decision means she faces arrest if she enters the country.

Navalnaya, 47, stepped into the spotlight after her husband’s death in an Arctic penal colony in February, declaring she would continue the fight for what Navalny called the “beautiful Russia of the future.”

In an article on X, Navalnaya urged her supporters on Tuesday not to focus on the court decision against her, but on the fight against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“When you write about it, please do not forget to write the most important thing: Vladimir Putin is a murderer and a war criminal,” she wrote.

“His place is in prison, and not somewhere in The Hague, in a comfortable cell with a television, but in Russia – in the same (penal) colony and the same 2 by 3 meter cell in which he killed Alexei.”

The Kremlin denied ordering Navalny’s killing.

Since her husband’s death, Navalnaya has met a number of high-ranking Western heads of state and government, including US President Joe Biden in San Francisco.

The U.S.-based nonprofit Human Rights Foundation named Navalnaya its chair last week and she said she would use her new role to intensify her husband’s fight against Putin.

“We will take on board everything that can be useful to fight against Putin, to fight for the beautiful Russia of the future,” Navalnaya said on X.