Russia blocks 49 Navalny-linked websites: aide

Russia's media regulator has blocked 49 websites linked to jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, his ally said yesterday, as pressure mounts on the movement of the opposition leader ahead of parliamentary elections in the autumn.

Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's most vocal domestic critic, was arrested in January after he returned to Russia following months of treatment in Germany for a nerve agent poisoning he blames on the Kremlin.

He was subsequently jailed for two-and-a-half years on old fraud charges and his organisations were banned as "extremist", barring members and sponsors from running in parliamentary elections in September.

"By the decision of the prosecutor general's office, 49 websites were blocked simultaneously," key Navalny aide Leonid Volkov said on his Telegram channel yesterday.

The blocked websites include Navalny's main website, the website of his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), the websites of key allies and of Navalny's regional offices that disbanded earlier this year. 

AFP journalists said Navalny's website was unavailable in Russia.