March 18, 2024

"Bandit Greetings" to the Oppositionist


"Bandit Greetings" to the Oppositionist
Leonid Volkov on a rally-concert in support of Alexey Navalny. putnik, Wikimedia Commons

On March 12 an unidentified assailant attacked Leonid Volkov, a former chairman of the Fond Borby S Korruptsiyey (Foundation for Combating Corruption) and a close ally of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The incident occurred on the outskirts of Vilnius, Lithuania, near Volkov's residence.

Volkov reported that the assailant struck him with the hammer many times. The politician managed to fend off the attacker and fractured his arm in the process.

Following the assault, Volkov was admitted to the hospital, where he recounted the incident and urged Russians to participate in the Polden Protiv Putina (Noon against Putin) political action. The action calls for opposition-minded individuals to assemble at polling stations nationwide at noon on March 17, aiming to demonstrate widespread dissent within Russia.

The attack on Volkov garnered condemnation from various Western officials. U.S. Ambassador to Lithuania Kara McDonald was shocked at the news; Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis also labeled the assault "shocking."

The Lithuanian police's anti-terrorism unit is currently investigating the incident. Deputy Commissioner General of Police Saulius Tamulevičius said on radio station LRT that multiple theories about the attack are under consideration.

Volkov called the assault "a typical, gangster greeting from Putin." Just hours before the attack, in an interview with independent media outlet Meduza, Volkov discussed the threats faced by Navalny's associates, warning of the potential for lethal reprisals.

Volkov's ordeal is not an isolated incident; Russian opposition figures, activists, and journalists remain vulnerable even beyond the country's borders. Last year, Russian operatives abducted an activist in Georgia, and are believed to have been behind the poisoning of independent journalist Elena Kostyuchenko in Germany in 2022.

You Might Also Like

Words from Behind the Glass Box
  • March 04, 2024

Words from Behind the Glass Box

A playwright and a theater director were arrested for a play criticizing ISIS. After months in jail, they spoke from their defendants' glass box.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955