One of Vladimir Putin’s loudest critics said Russian security forces wielding power tools raided the offices of his organization on Thursday—days after one of his allies was drafted into the army and deposited in the Arctic. “What’s happening is part of the coordinated campaign against the anti-corruption foundation,” Alexei Navalny said, according to Agence France-Presse. “This complicates our work but we will not halt it,” Navalny, who said he was dragged out of the office, added.
Navalny said the project manager of his foundation was snatched from his home on Monday and whisked to a remote air base on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. “Absolutely illegally, they actually kidnapped him and took him on several planes over the course of a night,” Navalny said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied the allegation. “If he tried to evade military service and was drafted the way it was done, then it happened in strict compliance with the law,” Peskov told the Washington Post.
