Kremlin Foe Navalny’s Wife Leaves for Germany, Interfax Says

(Bloomberg) -- Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, has left the country for Germany, the Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday.

Navalnaya took a flight from Moscow to Frankfurt, Interfax cited a person familiar with the matter as saying on Wednesday. Tass quoted Svetlana Davydova, Navalnaya’s lawyer, as saying she had no information on the issue. Ivan Zhdanov, head of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Navalny’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, is under house arrest.

A crackdown on mass protests over Navalny’s jailing last month led to the detention of 11,000 people and prosecution of his key aides. Navalnaya was among those detained but was later released. A Moscow court on Feb. 2 sentenced her husband to 2 years and 8 months for violating the probation terms of a 2014 fraud sentence. Russia has rejected U.S. and European calls for the activist’s release.

Navalny, 44, was detained in mid-January after arriving from Germany, where he was treated for a nerve-agent attack he said was an attempt by President Vladimir Putin to kill him. The Kremlin has denied any role in the poisoning.

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