Russia detains far-left leader for ‘justifying’ terror

Russian police on Thursday detained the leader of a far-left opposition group and a vocal opponent of the Kremlin’s domestic policies for allegedly “justifying terrorism,” his lawyer said.

Sergei Udaltsov, 46, supports Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine but the leader of the “Left Front” group has been a prominent government critic and has been jailed for organising rallies against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

His home was raided earlier Thursday and he is being interrogated by investigators, his lawyer told the RBC news outlet.

“Apparently it was for some social media post, I don’t know anything else,” lawyer Violetta Volkova said, adding that details were expected later.

Udaltsov said on his Telegram account earlier that police were “banging on his door” and wanted to carry out a search.

The Kremlin has cracked down on opposition ahead of this year’s elections, in which Putin is seeking a fifth term.

Udaltsov was jailed in 2014. He had previously served in prison along with fellow opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

He most recently picketed for the resignation of Moscow regional governor Andrei Vorobyov over heating outages.

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AFP

(NAMPA / AFP)