Russian firebrand opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov, who could face up to ten years in jail over charges that he plotted to spark nationwide mass disorder, has no plans to flee the country, his lawyer said Wednesday.
“On Friday, October 26th, I am planning, along with Sergei, to be at the Investigative Committee,” lawyer Violetta Volkova said, adding that Udaltsov may face a new, unspecificed charge and be detained on the spot.
Udaltsov, leader of the radical Left Front movement, was questioned last week in connection to allegations aired on a pro-Kremlin NTV channel that he and two other activists met with a Georgian politician to organize unrest in Russia.
Udaltsov says the footage is fake and the charges against him are “lunacy.”
NTV journalist Alexei Malkin told a Moscow court last week that an “unknown Georgian” handed him a disc containing the footage as he was walking down the street.
The two other Left Front members featured in the NTV footage, Leonid Razvozzhaev and Konstantin Lebedev, have also been arrested.
Razvozzhaev said on Tuesday he confessed to the charges after being kidnapped in Kiev, spirited to Moscow and tortured for two days.
“This is all revenge for our recent protests,” Udaltsov told journalists on Saturday. “Everything is clear – this is a challenge to society and an attempt to launch a new wave of repression. If we don’t stop it, we will face a long, political winter.”