Navalny’s ally blames brutal hammer attack on Putin’s ‘henchmen,’ vows not to give up
Leonid Volkov, a top aide to the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, blamed President Vladimir Putin’s “henchmen” for a savage hammer attack that left him bloodied with a broken arm – as he vowed not to “give up” the fight.
Volkov had just arrived at his home in Vilnus, Lithuania, where he lives in exile, on Tuesday night when a hammer-wielding goon smashed his car window, sprayed tear gas into his eyes and struck him more than a dozen times with the heavy tool.
Navalny’s former chief strategist was left with blood running down his left leg and bruises on his face, as seen in gruesome photos shared on Telegram by an associate — but his close call seemingly did nothing to shake his resolve.
“We will continue working and we will not give up,” he said in a post-attack message.
The 43-year-old Volkov was hospitalized to be treated for a fractured arm and later released home.
Volkov, with his arm bandaged and in a sling, later released a minute-long video on his Telegram channel to comment on what happened.
“They wanted to make pounded meat out of me, literally with a tenderizer,” he quipped. “A man attacked me right outside my house, struck me in the leg about 15 times. For some reason, the leg remained intact.”
“It’s painful to walk, but I’ve been told there is no fracture. I did break my arm, but it’s manageable,” he added
Volkov refrained from delving into why anyone would want to harm him — but described the brazen ambush as “a characteristic bandit greeting from Putin’s St. Petersburg henchmen.”
He was referring to Putin’s stint as a deputy mayor of St. Petersburg in the 1990s, when it was considered the criminal capital of Russia.
Officials in Lithuania seemed to agree with Volkov.
President Gitanas Nauseda said the attack was clearly pre-planned and tied in with other provocations against Lithuania, which is a member of NATO and the European Union.
“I can only say one thing to Putin — nobody is afraid of you here,” Nauseda said.
Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuania’s foreign minister, warned on X that “perpetrators will have to answer for their crime.”
Lithuania’s State Security Department counter-intelligence agency said the hammer attack was likely carried out to stop the Russian opposition from influencing the country’s upcoming presidential election, in which Putin is all but certain to secure another six-year term in office.
The Kremlin views Navalny’s associates as “the most dangerous opposition force capable of exerting real influence on Russia’s internal processes,” the Lithuanian security agency said.
US Ambassador to Lithuania Kara McDonald condemned the attack on Volkov.
“His resilience and courage in the face of recent attempts to silence and intimidate him are inspiring. The Navalny team remains an outspoken voice against Kremlin repression and brutality,” she said on X.
In an interview with Reuters just hours before the assault, Volkov said leaders of Navalny’s movement living in exile feared for their lives.
“They know that Putin not only kills people inside Russia, he also kills people outside of Russia,” Volkov said. “We live in very dark times.”
Volkov, who previously headed Navalny’s regional offices and mayoral and presidential campaigns, was bludgeoned on foreign soil less than a month after Putin’s fiercest domestic critic died in prison under unexplained circumstances.
Navalny’s widow, Yulia, and his political allies have openly accused Putin and his cohorts of having him killed, possibly with the nerve agent Novichok — a claim the Kremlin has angrily denied.
With Post wires
