Russia launches criminal investigation against Alexei Navalny's ally, Lyubov Sobol

Russian authorities on December 25 launched a criminal investigation into an ally of the opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Lyubov Sobol. The officials not only raided Sobol’s flat but also alleged that she had threatened the man Navalny claimed took part in his poisoning. As per reports, the head of Navalny's Anti-Corruption Fund, Ivan Zhdanov said that the investigators had started a probe into Sobol for trespassing “with use of violence or a threat to use it” after she had rung the doorbell of the alleged Federal Security Service (FSB) agent.

A criminal investigation into Russian President Vladimir Putin’s critic’s ally came after Navalny said earlier this week that he tricked an alleged chemical weapons expert with FSB, Konstantin Kudryavtsev into confessing that the domestic intelligence agency had sought to kill the opposition leader this summer by placing poison inside his underpants. 

Later on the same day, Sobol had reportedly gone to the Moscow apartment that a joint media report led by the Bellingcat investigative website claimed to be Kudryavtsev’s home. Navalny’s ally was arrested by the law enforcement authorities at the scene which was reportedly followed by questioning for hours. On December 25, the police took the 33-year-old opposition activist in for questioning after conducting a raid on her Moscow apartment and confiscated her tech devices, according to the statement by the Anti-Corruption Fund shared on Twitter.

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Navalny dupes FSB operative

An audio clip of the conversation between Navalny and FSB agent Konstantin Kudryavtsev was shared by Bellingcat, which previously reported of FSB’s involvement in the assassination attempt of the opposition leader. As per reports, Kudryavtsev could be heard admitting in the clip that Navalny's underwear was contaminated by Novichok in his hotel room in Omsk. 

Unaware that he was being tricked, the Russian official admitted that FSB was behind his poisoning. Kudryavtev said that he and his colleagues had applied Novichok on the "inner seams" of Navalny’s boxer shorts while he was staying at a hotel in Siberia. 

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