A Russian court Tuesday ordered the arrest in absentia of Yulia Navalnaya on charges that she has participated in the activities of an "extremist" group.
Navalnaya is the widow of Alexey Navalny, who was the main opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Navalny died in an Arctic prison in February while serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges.
Navalnaya has promised to continue her late husband's work.
The court order means that Navalnaya, who lives in exile, would be arrested if she were to enter Russia.
"When you write about this, please don't forget to write the main thing: Vladimir Putin is a murderer and a war criminal," she wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "His place is in prison, and not somewhere in The Hague, in a cozy cell with a TV, but in Russia — in the same [penal] colony and the same 2 by 3 meter cell in which he killed Alexey."
Russia has denied any involvement in Navalny's death.
Leonid Volkov, one of Navalny's former chiefs-of-staff, posted on X that Russia's arrest warrant for Navalnaya is "quite a recognition of Yulia's determination to continue Alexei's fight!"
Navalnaya has met with several Western leaders since her husband's death, including U.S. President Joe Biden. She recently was named the chair of the Human Rights Foundation, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization, where she is replacing Garry Kasparov, a Russian political activist and former World Chess Champion, who endorsed her appointment.
Some information for this report came from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
