Suspects linked to Vilnius attack on Navalny ally Volkov arrested in Poland

Three men who allegedly organised and carried out an attack last month in Lithuania on Russian opposition figure Leonid Volkov have been arrested, officials said Friday.

Volkov -- a close ally of late Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny -- was briefly admitted to hospital after he was repeatedly struck with a hammer outside his home in Lithuania's capital Vilnius in mid-March.

On Friday, officials in Poland and Lithuania said that a Belarusian man who organised the attack and the two Polish assailants had been arrested in Poland.

"A Belarusian working for the Russians, who ordered two Poles to carry out the attack against the Navalny ally has been arrested", Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

"The assailants have already been detained," Tusk wrote, adding that they were allegedly "linked to radical hooligan circles", but without providing other details.

Lithuania President Gitanas Nauseda said that "two people suspected of having attacked the head of Russia opposition Leonid Volkov were detained in Poland".

(AFP)

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