Russian court issues arrest warrant for late opposition leader Alexei Navalny's widow

The Basmanny District Court in Russia announced on Tuesday that it has ordered the arrest of Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the late opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, who died earlier this year in a Russian prison.

Navalnaya responded to the court issuance of the arrest warrant on X.

"When you write about this, please do not forget to write the main thing: Vladimir Putin is a murderer and a war criminal," she wrote. "His place is in prison, and not somewhere in The Hague, in a cozy cell with a TV, but in Russia – in the same colony and the same 2 by 3 meter cell in which he killed Alexei."

The announcement did not describe the reason for the arrest but Kira Yarmysh, a spokesperson for Navalnaya, wrote on X that the court argued she participated in an "extremist community."

Navalnaya has reportedly lived in Germany since her husband’s death. She would be arrested if she decided to return to Russia in the future.

According to Human Rights Watch, Navalny died in prison while "serving a prison sentence on numerous trumped-up charges," including extremism.