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Alexej Navalny (archive image)
Photo: EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA / REUTERS
The imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny claims to have been classified as an extremist and a terrorist.
Navalny wrote this on Instagram with the help of his lawyers.
There has not yet been any official confirmation from the Russian authorities.
Navalny said on Instagram that he had been invited to a commission that unanimously voted for the change in status.
"I now have a sign over my bunk that says I'm a terrorist," Navalny wrote in the post.
Then he added a winking smiley face.
Navalny went on to write that he welcomed the fact that the change meant that he was no longer classified as at risk of fleeing and was therefore less frequently checked by security personnel at night.
Attack with nerve poison
Navalny has been detained in a penal camp around a hundred kilometers east of Moscow since the beginning of the year.
He is considered the most important adversary of President Vladimir Putin.
An attack with a neurotoxin from the Novichok group was carried out on Navalny in August last year, for which he blames the Kremlin.
Research by SPIEGEL had shown that at least eight agents from the Russian secret service FSB were apparently involved in the poisoning of the Kremlin critic Alexej Navalnys;
the Kremlin denies any responsibility.
After his treatment at the Berlin Charité and his return to Russia, the Russian authorities arrested Navalny.
Since then, he has served a two-and-a-half year prison sentence for allegedly violating probation requirements.
Russian judiciary opens new investigation against Navalny
The Russian judiciary is now also taking action against Navalny's political organizations and supporters.
In June a Russian court - despite international criticism - classified the anti-corruption fund and other organizations as extremist and thus banned it.
Critics complained that supporters of the opposition should be politically eliminated.
Navalny himself has now also been accused of having "founded and led an extremist organization."
Since 2014, this is said to have called for a “change of power through violence” in particular.
The authorities are also investigating his supporters, including lawyer Lyubov Sobol and opposition activists Ivan Zhdanov and Leonid Volkov, who live abroad.
slü / Reuters