Lithuanian officials seek expulsion of dissident Leonid Volkov after leaked remarks

Lithuanian officials have called for the expulsion of Leonid Volkov, a prominent Russian dissident who has lived in the country for years, after private messages in which he criticized Ukrainian officials were leaked. Mr. Volkov, who oversaw major organized resistance to President Vladimir V.

Putin and served as chief of staff to the opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny, has been convicted in absentia in Russia and sentenced to 18 years in prison. In the leaked message, whose authenticity Mr. Volkov has acknowledged, he referred to Kyrylo Budanov as a “village spin doctor” and appeared to celebrate the death of Denis Kapustin, writing that “finally, this Nazi has died.” The article notes that German officials identified Mr.

Kapustin as a neo-Nazi, he denied the charge, and Ukraine later said its intelligence had staged his death — a claim the report says could not be verified. The reaction in Lithuania was swift: migration officials asked the country’s security agency to review his immigration status, deeming him a potential threat to national security.

“Such a person should not remain in Lithuania,” Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene said last week; her office told The New York Times the remarks “go well beyond acceptable boundaries.” President Gitanas Nauseda accused Mr.

Key Topics

World, Leonid Volkov, Lithuania, Ukraine, Aleksei Navalny, Kyrylo Budanov