The Russian authorities arrested a well-known opposition activist. After he was towed away on the plane, Attacked the homes of several other people.

Before taking off on Monday night, Andrei Pivovarov, the head of the Open Russia Movement, got off a plane bound for Warsaw at St. Petersburg Airport.

Pivovarov’s team stated that the police interrogated him on Tuesday, searched his apartment, and filed criminal proceedings against him on the grounds that he was suspected of violating Russian legislation on “bad organizations”.

“These situations show us that they are afraid of us, and we are in the majority,” Pivovarov’s Twitter account said.

The Krasnodar branch of the investigation committee responsible for investigating major cases stated in a statement that Pivovarov released materials supporting “unpopular organizations” in August 2020.

The statement also accused the activist of trying to escape investigators on Monday.

Pivovarov said he was on vacation when he was detained.

‘Unusual actions’

On May 23, the Belarusian authorities transferred a Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania to the capital Minsk, and arrested a journalist on the plane, after which Pivovarov was taken away from the plane.

Polish airline LOT, which operates the Pivovarov flight, said the plane was taxiing when Russian air traffic control ordered the crew to return to the stand.

“The pilot must comply with this order because he is within the jurisdiction of Russia,” the Polish news agency PAP quoted the company as saying.

Poland said it is investigating this issue.

“This is an unusual operation because if the Russians want to detain this person, they can do it before boarding the plane. The question is why it happened at that time,” Deputy Foreign Minister Piotr Wawrzyk told the state broadcaster TVP.

“The standards of the civilized world do not apply there.”

Open Russia is marked as “unpopular”

Open Russia is funded by tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who moved to London after 10 years in prison in Russia. He is considered by some to challenge the rule of President Vladimir Putin. Political revenge.

Russia declared the organization “unpopular” in 2017, effectively banning its activities.

Its allies in Russia continue their activities under a separate legal entity in an attempt to protect themselves from prosecution.

But the organization ceased its activities in Russia last week to prevent its supporters from facing criminal prosecution, as the parliament is preparing to pass legislation to increase the criminal liability of anyone who cooperates with “bad organizations.”

Russia said it needs the law to protect its national security from external interference.

Police raid

Also on Tuesday, the police raided the country house of opposition politician Dmitry Gudkov, a former member who was eager to run for parliament in September.

The homes of at least two of his colleagues have been searched.

“I don’t know the official reason for doing this,” Gudkov wrote on the Telegram social media platform. “But the real (reason) is clear.”

Gudkov’s father, Gennady, was also critical of the Kremlin. He described the search as “a special operation to eliminate the Gudkov team.”

The authorities have not yet commented on Gudkov’s ongoing operations.

Suppress dissent

This move is because Russia appears to be suppressing political opposition ahead of the September parliamentary elections.

Due to economic difficulties, Putin’s United Russia Party has recently lost support.

The president’s main political enemy, Alexey Navalny, was arrested after returning from Germany in January, where he spent five months recovering from the nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin— -Russian officials refused to accept the accusation.

He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for violating the probation clause of a 2014 conviction for corruption, and he condemned him for political motivation.

With Navalny’s imprisonment, prosecutors have asked Moscow courts to designate Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) and its network of regional offices as “extremist” organizations.

At the same time, a bill approved by the Lower House of the Russian Parliament prohibits members, donors and supporters of “extremist” groups from seeking public office-a measure that will prevent Navalny’s colleagues from running for parliament in September.