April 19, Pozirk. A Russia-linked Belarusian has been arrested after ordering two Poles to assassinate Russian opposition activist Leonid Volkov, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on X.
Volkov was a close ally of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic penal colony in February.
“The attackers are also already in custody. They are associated with the ultras,” Tusk said.
The prime minister said that “there will be no leniency for collaborators of the Russian services.”
“We will burn down every treason and destabilization attempt,” he said.
Volkov was attacked on March 12 in Vilnius. He suffered multiple injuries, including a broken arm. An unidentified man tried to beat him with a hammer.
Commenting on the attack for the Lithuanian agency BNS, Belarusian opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja said that Belarusians who had fled from the regime of Alaksandar Łukašenka did not feel safe even in democratic, free countries.
Cichanoŭskaja added that “many Belarusian activists have already faced the situation of being followed in the streets of Lithuania and Poland, being photographed by strangers and receiving anonymous threats.”
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