Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said on Wednesday that he is being investigated on terrorism charges that could lead to up to 30 years in prison, Reuters reported.

Oleksiy Navalny at the hearing of one of the lawsuits against himPhoto: Oleksiy Maishev / Sputnik / Profimedia

In statements posted on Twitter by associates of Navalny, who is already serving a total of 11-and-a-half years in prison on charges that include fraud, he said:

“They have brought absurd charges that threaten me with 30 years in prison … that I am committing acts of terrorism while in prison.”

Navalny was poisoned in Siberia in August 2020 with a neurotoxic substance identified by Western laboratories. The Kremlin denies attempts to kill him. He was imprisoned the following year when he returned to Russia after treatment in Germany.

His campaigning organizations were banned in Russia as “extremist”. This month, Russian investigators formally linked Navalny supporters to the murder of Vladlen Tatarsky, a popular military blogger and supporter of Russia’s campaign in Ukraine, who was killed by a bomb in St. Petersburg. Petersburg associates of Navalny deny any involvement in the murder.

Separately, Russian investigators said on Wednesday that 11 people were declared “internationally wanted” in a case related to Navalny, according to the state news agency TASS.