Russian internet gendarme Roskomnadzor blocked 49 websites linked to jailed opponent Alexei Navalny, Leonid Volkov, one of his closest allies, said Monday (July 26th).
Read also: Russia: Navalny's networks threatened with annihilation by justice
"
By virtue of a decision of the Public Prosecutor's Office, 49 (!) Sites at a time were blocked
", Leonid Volkov wrote on Twitter, specifying that it was notably that of Navalny and those of his main organizations , who had been declared in June "
extremists
" by the Russian justice.
According to Volkov, who himself lives in exile in Lithuania, the measures are aimed at further hampering the activities of Navalny supporters ahead of the parliamentary elections in September, amid the growing unpopularity of the ruling United Russia party.
"
But we will soon tell how we can get around all this,
" he said.
AFP journalists found that Navalny's website was inaccessible in Russia.
In June, the Russian courts called
the organizations of Alexey Navalny, 45,
"
extremist
" and ordered their liquidation.
A measure concerning in particular its Fund for the fight against corruption (FBK) known for its investigations into the lifestyle and embezzlement of Russian elites and its regional offices which are responsible for organizing demonstrations and electoral campaigns.
To read also: Russia: plunged into the hell of the "correctional colony number 2" for Alexeï Navalny
The collaborators of formations considered "
extremist
" risk in Russia of heavy prison sentences and are deprived of participation in the elections, since a law promulgated, also in June, by the president Vladimir Poutine. The blocking of websites linked to Navalny comes after months of repression against the Russian opposition, marked in particular by the sending of the opponent for two and a half years in a penal colony in the context of a case he is judging Politics.
