US demands immediate release of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny

The United States has expressed deep concern regarding the treatment of Opposition Leader Aleksei Navalny by the Russian government. Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent in 2020 and was later arrested on his return from Germany after treatment. The state department spokesperson, Ned Price, raised concerns about how the Russian government has been escalating arbitrary interference with Navalny's rights.

The State Department has called on Russia demanding the immediate release of the opposition leader Aleksei Navalny who is currently serving two sentences: one for violating parole and another for embezzlement at the prison in Melekhovo, 260 km east of Moscow. Navalny informed on social media on September 7 that he was ordered to solitary confinement for 15 days, this being the fourth time when he had been sent in isolation. The move is being seen as the Russian authorities' politically motivated harassment of the leader of the opposition.

Is the Kremlin's Move Politically Motivated?

On September 8, Navalny tweeted that the prison authorities had alleged that Navalny had communicated with accomplices and engaged in criminal activity from the jail. As a result, they revoked Navalny's attorney-client privilege. State Department spokesperson Price has accused the Kremlin of politically motivated harassment by revoking the privilege and interfering with Navalny's rights and repeatedly sending him to solitary confinement for minor breaches such as a partially unbuttoned prison suit, failing to put his hand behind his back in time, and giving wrong identification to one of the guards.

The US condemns the use of chemical weapons by Russia.

The State Department condemned Russia for using a chemical weapon, a nerve agent, in a poison attack on Navalny in Siberia in 2020. The department appealed to the Kremlin to "fully declare and dismantle its chemical weapons program." They also extended support to Navalny's family and supporters worldwide in demanding his release from prison at the earliest.