Russian court jails Navalny ally in absentia for 18 years as dissident crackdown continues
Courts in Russia on Friday convicted one opposition figure in absentia and placed another under house arrest as Moscow continues its crackdown on dissent.
Leonid Volkov, a close associate of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was sentenced in absentia to 18 years in prison after being found guilty on criminal charges.
Moscow's Second Western District Military convicted Volkov under 40 counts including justifying terrorism, organizing and financing an extremist group, rehabilitating Nazism, and creating a non-governmental organization that violated citizens' rights, Russian news agencies reported.
As well as the prison sentence, Volkov was also fined 2 million rubles (approx. $25,000) and banned from using the internet for 10 years.
'Oh no! They banned me from the internet for 10 years as prosecutors requested, but I've already been using it', Volkov wrote in a tongue-in-cheek social media post after the sentence was released. 'Damn. Whatever am I going to do?"
Volkov, who was in charge of Navalny's regional offices and election campaigns, left Russia several years ago under pressure from the authorities. He led Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation between 2021 and 2023, during which time he was placed on the Russian government's list of terrorists and extremists. The case against him is widely seen in Russia as political motivated.
Separately, Lev Shlosberg, a senior member of the Yabloko opposition party, was placed under house arrest Wednesday after being detained on charges of discrediting the Russian army.
A court in the city of Pskov, close to Russia's western border, ordered Shlosberg to be detained at home for two months pending investigation and trial, the court's press service said. His case has also been widely viewed as politically motivated.
Russian authorities have accused Shlosberg of discrediting the nation's military by calling for a ceasefire in Russia's war with Ukraine. Shlosberg has said that he did not share the social media video or administer the page on which it was posted. If found guilty, he faces up to five years imprisonment.
The politician, who has repeatedly criticized Moscow's war, was previously named as a 'foreign agent' by Russian authorities, a loaded term that carries connotations of Soviet-era treachery.
Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Kremlin has clamped down on all forms of dissent, targeting rights groups, independent media and other members of civil-society organizations, LGBTQ+ activists and certain religious affiliations.
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They're economic woes that contributed to the downfall of outgoing Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene, who belongs to the same Mongolian People's Party (MPP) but quit after failing to receive sufficient backing in a June 3 confidence vote he called to quell popular protests demanding his ouster. For several weeks, thousands of predominantly young demonstrators have thronged central Ulaanbaatar's Sukhbaatar Square in outrage at the lavish displays of wealth that Oyun-Erdene's son and fiancée posted on social media, including helicopter rides, an expensive engagement ring, a luxury car, and designer handbags. The crowds called for Oyun-Erdene to disclose his personal finances, but he declined saying that they had already been provided to the nation's Anti-Corruption Agency, as required by law. However, public trust in that body and the wider judiciary is scant following a slew of high-profile graft scandals coupled with a conspicuous lack of prosecutions or accountability. 'Oyun-Erdene was the one who was talking about morals, transparency, and corruption,' protest leader Unumunkh Jargalsaikhan, 27, tells TIME. 'But Mongolia is actually degrading when it comes to the economy and freedoms. The corruption scandal was just the spark.' Unumunkh blames rising living costs and torpid wages for driving public anger, especially among young people. Mongolia is facing an economic crunch with government spending rising 20% year-on-year for the first four months of 2025 but goods exports falling by 13% over the same period, owed not least to a 39% decline in coal exports. Still, Oyun-Erdene was dismissive of the protesters and in a statement instead blamed 'a web of interests, tangled like a spider's web' for toppling him. Oyun-Erdene's supporters say his ouster had three drivers: Firstly, and with a dash of irony, his relentless pursuit of official graft, including a draft law his cabinet just submitted that would compel all public officials to justify their income. Secondly, last year's updated Minerals Law, which puts 34% of the equity of 'strategic' mines—defined as producing over 5% of GDP—into a Sovereign Wealth Fund. Today, nine of Mongolia's 16 strategic deposits are privately owned by influential industrialist families. 'Those private companies are very unhappy and completely opposed to 34% belonging to the state,' says Jargalsaikhan Dambadarjaa, a Mongolian broadcaster and political commentator. Read More: The Promise of Nuclear Energy Brings the West to Mongolia The third alleged driver is more contentious: that Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh deviously undermined Oyun-Erdene in order to change the constitution to boost presidential powers and extend term limits from the single, six-year stint currently permitted. True, incoming Prime Minister Zandanshatar's most recent posting was as chief-of-staff to Khurelsukh, who chose to give a midnight speech to the State Great Khural on the eve of Oyun-Erdene's no-confidence vote that urged lawmakers to represent their constituents rather than a single political leader. Despite the MPP having enough lawmakers to reach the 64-vote threshold required to save Oyun-Erdene, his own party deserted him, with the secret ballot totaling just 44 votes for, 38 against. Oyun-Erdene's camp paints Khurelsukh as an aspiring autocrat intent on aligning Mongolia with authoritarian neighbors China and Russia, noting how he hosted Vladimir Putin in Ulaanbaatar in September, flouting an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, and also attended Moscow's Victory Day Parade in May. A doctored photo depicting Khurelsukh as having commissioned a giant golden statue of himself in the manner resembling a Central Asian despot is doing the rounds on social media. However, this narrative has some problems. Gladhanding Putin is a political necessity for landlocked Mongolia, whose 3.5 million population relies on Moscow for 90% of imported gas and petroleum and is completely beholden to Russia for security. 'Turning up in September was Putin showing the rest of the world his middle finger,' says Prof. Julian Dierkes, a Mongolia expert at the University of Mannheim in Germany. 'There was no option for Mongolia to say no.' Moreover, Khurelsukh has proven an internationalist, first addressing the U.N. General Assembly soon after his inauguration in 2021 and returning every year since. (His predecessor, Khaltmaagiin Battulga, rarely showed up.) While not outright condemning Russia's aggression in Ukraine, Khurelsukh's latest UNGA address in September did pointedly voice opposition to 'using force against the territorial integrity and political independence of any state.' Khurelsukh has also repeatedly gone on record to oppose amending the constitution, which was just updated in 2019 to strengthen the legislative branch. 'Honestly, there isn't a lot of worry about the President trying to stay in power,' says Bolor Lkhaajav, a Mongolian political analyst and commentator. Dierkes agrees: 'I call baloney on the 'evil President thesis.'' 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