MOSCOW — Russian authorities froze the property of Aleksei A. Navalny, the Russian opposition chief poisoned final month, on the behest of a Kremlin-allied businessman referred to as “Putin’s chef,” Mr. Navalny’s spokeswoman mentioned on Thursday.
Mr. Navalny, Russian President Vladimir V. Putin’s most outstanding home opponent, was nonetheless in a medically induced coma in a hospital in Berlin when his property have been frozen.
A court docket barred Mr. Navalny from promoting or mortgaging his condo in southeastern Moscow, and his financial institution accounts have been frozen, Kira Yarmysh, the spokeswoman, said in a video posted to her Twitter account. The order was dated Aug. 27, every week after Mr. Navalny was poisoned with the military-grade nerve agent Novichok. However his legal professionals realized of the court docket’s determination solely just lately, Ms. Yarmysh mentioned.
The authorized maneuver was introduced on by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the catering magnate who’s near Mr. Putin and is known as “Putin’s chef.” In August, Mr. Prigozhin moved to gather damages that Mr. Navalny owed in a libel lawsuit from 2019 — and coyly pledged to pursue the debt so long as Mr. Navalny survived the poisoning.
“In fact, if Comrade Navalny provides his soul to God, then I personally don’t intend to go after him on this world,” Mr. Prigozhin mentioned in an announcement final month.
Mr. Navalny was launched from the Berlin hospital on Wednesday, 32 days after being evacuated by air from Siberia, the place he was poisoned.
The Russian authorities have frozen the property of Mr. Navalny and his group before, strikes that difficult his anti-Putin activism however by no means silenced it. The most recent freeze, accomplished within the midst of worldwide condemnation over the unexplained poisoning of Mr. Navalny, signaled that the Kremlin has no plans to let up on its stress in opposition to the opposition chief, whilst he makes an attempt to recuperate his well being.
The Russian authorities has insisted that the West is utilizing Mr. Navalny as a part of a calculated marketing campaign to weaken Mr. Putin. Russian officers have additionally claimed that Mr. Navalny could not have been poisoned in any respect. (Laboratory checks in Germany, France and Sweden have all identified Novichok.)
Mr. Prigozhin has been concerned in a few of Russia’s clandestine operations earlier than, together with interference within the 2016 presidential election in america.
Mr. Navalny’s group reported final 12 months {that a} faculty meals provider owned by Mr. Prigozhin was accountable for a spate of sicknesses amongst Moscow schoolchildren. Mr. Prigozhin denied proudly owning the corporate and gained a libel lawsuit in opposition to Mr. Navalny and his group that awarded him greater than $1 million in damages.
“Somewhat than taking the aspect of the kid victims, the court docket took the aspect of Prigozhin, and now the accounts and the condo of an individual who was in a coma have been frozen,” Ms. Yarmysh, the spokeswoman, mentioned in her video message on Thursday. “That is all you want to know in regards to the Russian justice system.”
