Russia’s FSB security service searches home of elderly father of former Navalny aide

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MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officers have searched the home of the 69-year-old father of a former aide to late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, his son Leonid Volkov said in a video message on Telegram.

Mikhail Volkov, a renowned mathematics professor who specialised in algebra and theoretical computing, was shown by the UralLive media outlet being served with official papers at what appeared to be his home in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg.

UralLive said investigators suspected that Volkov senior had transferred money to Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), which is banned in Russia as an extremist organisation.

Leonid Volkov, who is listed by Russia as a foreign agent and extremist, said his father had not been detained but that FSB officers had searched his father’s home in an act of revenge against him for his opposition activities.

Navalny, 47, died suddenly on February 16, 2024 in a Russian prison in the Arctic Circle, depriving the Russian opposition of its most charismatic and popular leader.

No single leader has emerged to unite the disparate opposition and there has been significant infighting between different Russian dissident groups abroad.

The Kremlin casts Navalny’s allies as dangerous extremists intent on destabilising Russia at the behest of Western intelligence agencies. It says President Vladimir Putin enjoys overwhelming support among ordinary Russians.

Navalny had described Putin’s Russia as a brittle criminal state run by thieves, sycophants and spies who care only about money. He had long predicted that Russia could face seismic political turmoil, including revolution.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Gareth Jones)