Alexei Navalny's long-time aide Leonid Volkov was assaulted with a hammer after he was sprayed with tear gas, the late Russian opposition leader’s team has said.
The attack took place in the Lithuanian capitol Vilnius on Tuesday, Mr Navalny's former spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said.
She wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "Volkov has just been attacked outside his house.
“Someone broke a car window and sprayed tear gas in his eyes, after which the attacker started hitting Leonid with a hammer.
She posted images showing Mr Volkov with a bruise on his forehead, blood coming from a leg wound and a vehicle with damage to the driver's door and window.
Another post shared a photo of Mr Volkov being transported into an ambulance to be taken to hospital.
Lithuania's Foreign Affairs Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, who also leads Homeland Union, the ruling party, called the assault "shocking".
"Perpetrators will have to answer for their crime", he wrote on X.
Lithuanian police said they had been informed a man was beaten outside his home, and were investigating.
Police fenced off a pine forest near Volkov's house on Vilnius' northern outskirts, and officers with dogs and flashlights were seen searching it late on Tuesday night.
A large part of Mr Navalny's political group, the Anti-Corruption Foundation, which includes Mr Volkov, are residing in European Union and NATO member Lithuania after fleeing Russia.
Mr Navalny, an anti-corruption campaigner and Russia's best-known opposition politician, had been jailed since January 2021, when he returned to Moscow to face certain arrest after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin.
His Foundation for Fighting Corruption and a network of regional offices were designated as "extremist organisations" by the Russian government that same year.His death, reported by penitentiary officials on February 16, sent shockwaves around the globe, with opposition figures and Western leaders laying the blame on the Kremlin — something officials in Moscow vehemently rejected.The politician's funeral in Moscow on March 1 drew thousands of supporters, a rare show of defiance in Putin's Russia amid unabating and ruthless crackdown on dissent.
Сейчас Леонид Волков в больнице
— Команда Навального (@teamnavalny) March 12, 2024
Фото от Ивана Жданова (https://t.co/qaoYuCGYlg) pic.twitter.com/4d0llz0ozK
Those willing to pay tribute to Mr Navalny, 47, kept streaming to his grave in southeastern Moscow for days after the ceremony.
Mr Navalny's widow Yulia has vowed to continue her late husband's work.Mr Volkov used to be in charge of Navalny's regional offices and election campaigns — Mr Navalny ran for mayor of Moscow in 2013 and sought to challenge Putin in the 2018 presidential election.
Mr Volkov left Russia several years ago under pressure from the authorities.Russian independent news outlet Meduza said it interviewed Volkov several hours before the attack and asked him about risks for Mr Navalny's team.
"The key risk is that we will all be killed," Meduza quoted Mr Volkov as saying.
