On April 26 ,the State Duma recognized Navalny’s network of headquarters as extremist. This means that they can no longer continue their activities on the territory of the Russian Federation and they will have to be closed. Therefore, shortly after that, the head of the regional headquarters of Alexei Navalny officially announced their dissolution. The Anti-Corruption Foundation, which was previously recognized as a foreign agent, is also recognized as an extremist organization. But a much more serious problem for Alexei Navalny and his supporters is the recent ban on participation in elections for those involved in extremism, that is, people who have ever cooperated with the FBK or simply transferred money to the fund as donations.
“It is impossible to preserve the work of the Navalny headquarters network in its current form: it will immediately be brought under the article on extremism and will entail criminal sentences for those who work in the headquarters, who cooperate with them, who help them.”— said Leonid Volkov on his Youtube channel.
“It is impossible to give access to the parliamentary rostrum to those who hold extremely radical views.”— commented on the decision of Vasily Piskarev, head of the Duma commission to investigate the facts of foreign interference in the internal affairs of Russia – Vasily Piskarev.
But the State Duma’s ban not only restricts access to power to Alexei Navalny’s accomplices, it also prevents people who were involved in such an organization even before the court’s decision to recognize it as extremist from being elected to the lower house of parliament. For managers and founders of organizations, this period will be three years before the court decision, for all others-a year. This means that all those who collaborated with the FBK and sent them donations over the past year will be recognized as persons involved in extremism, and they will be banned from participating in the elections.
The recognition of the FBK as an extremist organization was the last and “deadly” blow to the associates of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Headquarters across the country have been dissolved, and the FBK is on the verge of closure, which means that it is no longer possible to continue its activities on the territory of Russia. Navalny, like himself, will not be able to.
