Kremlin critics
After the attack on Volkov: two suspects arrested
Kremlin critic Leonid Volkov was attacked and injured in front of his home in Vilnius, Lithuania, in March. photo
© Mindaugas Kulbis/AP/dpa
The attack on the Russian exiled opposition figure Leonid Volkov shocked Lithuania. Now the authorities in Poland have arrested two suspects. But what could have been their motive?
A good month after the violent attack on the Kremlin critic Leonid Volkov in Lithuania, authorities have arrested two suspects in Poland. According to the Lithuanian prosecutor’s office, the two suspected attackers were arrested in Warsaw on April 3rd. They could now be handed over to Lithuania after the procedural steps have been completed in May, Justas Laucius from the Vilnius Regional Prosecutor’s Office told Lithuanian Radio in Vilnius. Further investigations could then be initiated.
Volkov, who lived in exile in Lithuania, was attacked and injured in front of his home in Vilnius on the evening of March 12 when he arrived in a car in the courtyard of his home. The close confidant of Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, who died in a prison camp on February 16, had to receive medical treatment after the attack. The background to the crime, which took place shortly before the presidential election in Russia, is still unclear.
According to Laucius, the two suspects are two Polish citizens. “These people are known to Polish law enforcement authorities. This is all we can say at the moment,” said Lithuanian Criminal Police Deputy Head Saulius Briginas. Accordingly, five searches were carried out as part of the investigation carried out together with the Polish authorities.
Investigations in all directions
The Polish side confirmed the arrest of two unspecified people, first announced by Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda. There was a European arrest warrant against both of them, the Polish police central investigation office announced on X (formerly Twitter). The two suspects were taken to the Warsaw-Praga District Public Prosecutor’s Office. The public prosecutor’s office confirmed to the PAP news agency that on April 4, a Polish court gave its consent to “the execution of the European arrest warrant and the temporary arrest of the two people.”
According to Laucius, investigations are underway in all directions. However, there are indications that Volkov was attacked “because of his political activities and views.” The opposition figure himself blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for this. The attack was a “typical bandit greeting” from his henchmen, he said at the time after his release from the hospital.
Volkov welcomed the authorities’ success in the investigation. “I have seen how energetically and persistently the Lithuanian police have worked on this case over the past month, and I am very happy that this work was successful,” he wrote on Telegram. “Well, we’ll find out the details soon. I can’t wait.”