The deputy of the Swedish parliament Markus Wihel offered to help the “supporters of democracy” in Russia. He sent the corresponding letter to the head of the Swedish Foreign Ministry, Ann Linde, and the RT TV channel got acquainted with the text of the deputy’s request.
Vikhel asked if Linde plans to initiate the introduction of tougher measures against Russia in order to put pressure on the “Russian regime” and support democratic activists. According to the parliamentarian, “the situation, to put it mildly, is very difficult.”
On the eve of the Russian Foreign Ministry announced the expulsion of three foreign diplomats for participating in unauthorized rallies in support of Alexei Navalny (the founder of the FBK, included by the Ministry of Justice in the register of organizations performing the functions of a foreign agent). Diplomats from Poland, Sweden and Germany were summoned to the ministry and protested.
Sweden called the decision of the Russian side “completely unfounded.” The ministry also denied Russian claims that the diplomat took part in an unsanctioned protest.
On February 2, the Simonovsky Court of Moscow replaced Alexei Navalny’s suspended sentence with a real one, sentencing him to 3.5 years in a general regime colony. However, he will spend two years and eight months in prison – he was credited with the year of house arrest he was under during the preliminary investigation of the Yves Rocher case.