Russia widens opposition crackdown with bill, jailing of critic
Russian authorities widened a crackdown on the country's beleaguered opposition on Wednesday as the legislature advanced a bill that would bar opponents from polls and a court jailed another well-known Kremlin critic.
Russia's opposition says authorities are stepping up a campaign of intimidation against dissenters ahead of a parliamentary vote in September, allegations the Kremlin has rejected.
A court in Moscow is considering whether to designate jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny's political network as an "extremist" organisation, which would remove a key challenger to the ruling United Russia party. A decision is expected as early as next week.
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Over the past two days, authorities detained two more opposition critics -- Dmitry Gudkov and Andrei Pivovarov, with the latter yanked off a Warsaw-bound plane minutes before takeoff.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russia-widens-opposition-crackdown-with-bill-jailing-of-critic/ar-AAKDiy6
