Attack On Navalny Ally ‘Proof Of Russian Persecution’ – Italy

Italy has condemned the attack on Russian opposition figure Leonid Volkov, a close ally of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, saying it proved Russia’s persecution of Moscow’s critics.Presidency, told reporters that something really serious happened with the death of Navalny and also the attack on his closest collaborator,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, whose country holds this year’s rotating G7.“It is proof that Russia continues to persecute those who oppose the regime and this cannot but deserve our condemnation.”Lithuania said that it suspects Russia’s special services of involvement in Tuesday’s attack on Volkov, who was briefly admitted to hospital after he was repeatedly struck with a hammer outside his home in Lithuania’s capital Vilnius.The attack came almost a month after Navalny’s death in an Arctic prison, which Volkov blamed on Putin, and days before elections that look set to extend the Kremlin chief’s stay in power.