Russia calls Navalny US ‘agent’

Russia yesterday suggested that Washington was quick to condemn the designation of Alexei Navalny's groups as extremist because the jailed Kremlin critic was in fact working for the United States. A Moscow court late on Wednesday ruled to designate Navalny's regional offices and his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) as "extremist", barring them from working in Russia. The US State Department called the action "particularly disturbing" and said it was part of a pattern of restricting fundamental rights in Russia. Prosecutors in April had requested that Navalny's organisations be hit with the "extremist" label, saying the group was plotting an uprising with support from the West.