A Russian court on Tuesday sentenced jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny to nine years in a high-security prison, according to Interfax, in a ruling that will keep President Vladimir Putin’s top critic sidelined amid a harsh crackdown on the opposition.
Navalny, who is currently serving a two-and-a-half year sentence that the European Court of Human Rights called politically motivated, dismissed the legitimacy of the proceedings and used his appearances during the trial to denounce Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, which has plunged Russia into economic crisis and international isolation.
“It’s the duty of every person now to oppose this war,” Navalny told the court in his final statement. The attack on Ukraine will result in “our country’s collapse and disintegration,” he said.
