In a sinister sign that Russian thug and war criminal Vladimir Putin will continue to send his goons to attack his opponents abroad, Leonid Volkov, a former chief-of-staff to slain hero Alexei Navalny was attacked yesterday in Vilnius, Lithuania. The attackers used a hammer to injure Volkov, who suffered a broken arm and multiple injuries to his body, survived the attack. According to CNN:
"Lithuanian authorities are investigating Tuesday’s attack, the country’s Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said in a post on X. 'Perpetrators will have to answer for their crime,' Landsbergis said, describing the attack as 'shocking.'
The attack comes days before Russia’s presidential election, seen as a constitutional box-ticking exercise where President Vladimir Putin is all but certain to win a fifth term.
Volkov, who had served as chairman of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation until 2023, dismissed the elections in February as a 'circus,' saying on social media they were meant to signal Putin’s overwhelming mass support.
'You need to understand what the March "elections" mean for Putin. They are a propaganda effort to spread hopelessness' among the electorate, Volkov said."
Putin's record of assassinating opposition figures and others both inside Russia and overseas is stunning. Using methods like poison, radiation, beatings and falls from windows, his assassins have been prolific as he continues in office, now into its second decade. Fake elections, now just a rubber stamp for his authoritarian rule, are set for March 15 - 17, and apparently Putin's message to his opposition is run for your life.
(photo: Volkov, right, marches with Alexei Navalny, center, and Yulia Navalnaya, left, in 2018)
