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

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas
October 01, 2013

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.

 
Moscow and Muscovites
November 26, 2013

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

Jews in Service to the Tsar
October 09, 2011

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 Humpbacked Horse
November 03, 2014

The Little Humpbacked Horse

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.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

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.

Life Stories
September 01, 2009

Life Stories

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

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.

How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.

Steppe
July 15, 2022

Steppe

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.

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