Navalny associate fined after disobedience charges

A top associate of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Lyubov Sobol, has been fined 1,000 roubles (about 13 US dollars) on charges of disobeying police on the day of Navalny's return to Russia, when she was waiting at the Vnukovo airport.Also on Thursday, Sobol was formally charged with the incitement of violation of sanitary regulations, in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus, by organising protests.

Last week, a Moscow court put Sobol, Alexei Navalny's brother, Oleg and several other key allies under house arrest, without access to the internet, for two months as part of a criminal probe into alleged violations of coronavirus regulations during protests.Sobol has also been charged with trespassing after ringing the doorbell of an alleged security operative who inadvertently revealed details of Navalny's supposed poisoning with a Soviet-era nerve agent.Lyubov Sobol is one of the key figures in Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation.