Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Thursday he was against Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine as he stood trial from prison after President Vladimir Putin launched an attack.
“I am against this war,” Navalny was heard saying in a video of the in-prison trial published by independent news outlet Dozhd.
“This war between Russia and Ukraine was unleashed to cover up the theft from Russian citizens and divert their attention from problems that exist inside the country,” he said.
Wearing a prison uniform, Navalny said the war would “lead to a huge number of victims, destroyed futures and the continuation of this line of impoverishment of the citizens of Russia.”
He is being tried inside the maximum security prison where he is held outside Moscow on fresh charges that could see his time behind bars extended by a decade.
His allies have said that the trial — which opened last week — has been purposefully timed to coincide with the Ukraine crisis.
Navalny has been behind bars for a year on old fraud charges, after surviving a poison attack, he and the West blame on the Kremlin.
Putin launched an offensive on Ukraine in the early hours of Thursday after a national address aired at around 5:40 a.m. local time (0240 GMT).
'I Am Against This War': Jailed Kremlin Critic Navalny
MOSCOW, RUSSIA —
