MOSCOW: Russia has issued an arrest warrant that covers a swath of other former Soviet republics for one of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s closest allies, a Moscow court said on Wednesday.
Leonid Volkov, who oversees Navalny’s regional headquarters, has angered the authorities by organising anti-Kremlin protests from his base in Lithuania, demanding the release of Navalny, who was detained last month.
He has urged Russians to gather near their homes for a brief Valentine’s Day protest this weekend, shining their mobile phone torches and lighting candles in heart shapes to flood social media.
Moscow’s Basmanny Court said investigators had requested Volkov be preventively detained after he was charged with inciting minors to take to the streets.
It said a warrant for his arrest had been issued across the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a group of former Soviet republics, including Russia.
The court said Volkov would be held in Russia for two months if and…