Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticized the US statements regarding the court hearing in the case of Alexei Navalny ( founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation – FBK, included by the Ministry of Justice in the register of organizations performing the functions of a foreign agent ). She expressed her opinion on the air of the YouTube channel “Soloviev Live”.
She recalled that the US Embassy in Russia denied that American diplomats were present at the Moscow City Court. However, then, Zakharova said, they complained that they were not allowed in.
“[American diplomats] said they applied to be present in the courtroom for observation. And then they said they didn't get permission. From whom did they have to get permission? Where did they send the application? The Foreign Ministry did not receive these applications, ”the diplomat said. She also stressed that the court session was open.
On Tuesday, February 2, the Simonovsky Court of Moscow replaced Alexei Navalny's suspended sentence with a real one. He was sentenced to 3.5 years in a general regime colony. However, Navalny will spend 2 years and 8 months in the colony, taking into account the time spent under house arrest during the preliminary investigation in the Yves Rocher case.
About 20 employees of the embassies of foreign states, including the USA, Bulgaria, Poland, Latvia, Austria, Switzerland, arrived at the court session.
Navalny was detained on January 17 at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport upon his return from Germany, where he was undergoing treatment. Navalny fell into a coma on August 20, he became ill during the flight from Tomsk to Moscow. On August 22, he was taken to a German clinic, whose doctors announced that the Russian was poisoned with a substance from the Novichok group. Russian doctors found no traces of the poison.
