If found guilty in a new case, Alexei Navalny, an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, says he could be looking at an additional 15 years in prison.
Now serving more than a decade on fraud and contempt-of-court charges, Navalny said Tuesday that he is accused of forming an ''extremist group in order to incite hatred toward officials and oligarchs.''
''Maybe Putin doesn't hate me, maybe he secretly adores me,'' the Russian dissident wrote on Twitter. ''That's why he wants me to be hidden in an underground bunker, guarded by reliable people, just like himself."
"It turns out that I created an extremist group in order to incite hatred toward officials and oligarchs,'' he continued. ''And when they put me in jail, I dared to be disgruntled about it (silly me) and called for rallies."
The Washington Examiner reports that a Russian appeals court denied a request from Navalny last week to appeal the nine-year sentence he received in March for embezzlement and contempt of court.
Navalny is also serving 2½ years for another fraud case from 2014, in addition to the nine-year prison term, according to the Examiner.
Navalny received treatment in Germany in 2020 for a chemical nerve agent attack that he has publicly stated was the work of Kremlin agents.
CNN reported in September 2020 that German toxicological testing on samples taken from Navalny showed that the opposition leader had been poisoned with Soviet-era chemical weapons.
"Alexei Navalny was the victim of an attack with a chemical nerve agent of the Novichok group," then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at the time. "This poison can be detected without a doubt in the samples."
The Kremlin has denied any involvement in Navalny's poisoning.
The Examiner reports he was rearrested in January 2021 upon returning to Russia for allegedly breaching the parole conditions for his 2014 conviction while in Germany and was sentenced to 2½ years in prison.
The frequent Kremlin critic has said the charges against him were politically motivated.
After Navalny's arrest last year, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States was ''deeply concerned by Russia's actions'' and called for his ''immediate and unconditional release.''
While imprisoned, Navalny has not backed down in his criticism of Putin and the Russian government, urging his supporters to protest the invasion of Ukraine and other Russian government policies, according to the Examiner.
He is the leader of the Russia of the Future Party, which opposes the United Russia Party, currently in power, and Putin, who is an independent.
The new charges against Navalny have not been confirmed by the Russian government.
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