Russia freezes assets of Kremlin critic Navalny’s anti-graft group

Russia has frozen the assets of an anti-corruption group that top opposition figure Alexei Navalny set up to expose the questionable wealth of senior government officials, his spokeswoman says.

The ruling comes amid a crackdown on the opposition that has seen Navalny jailed and thousands of people detained at a series of rallies in Moscow calling for free and fair elections.

The Foundation for Fighting Corruption (FBK) has published reports detailing the lavish lifestyles of figures close to Russian President Vladimir Putin including Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

A Moscow district court froze 75 million rubles ($1.1 million) held in accounts of the FBK and those of several staff members, Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh writes on Twitter.

“This is the amount that they considered to be ‘laundered’,” she writes on Facebook.

— AFP