The former chief of staff of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was attacked with a hammer and tear gas outside his home in Lithuania on Tuesday, less than a month after his former boss mysteriously turned up dead in a Russian penal colony.
A spokesperson for Navalny, Kira Yarmysh, said on X that Leonid Volkov was attacked in his car outside his home. The attacker broke through the car window, sprayed tear gas in Volkov’s eyes, and repeatedly struck him with a hammer. According to The Washington Post, Volkov lives in Lithuania in self-imposed exile after leaving Russia at least four years ago.
Volkov survived the horrifying ordeal and police were called, said Yarmysh. Lithuanian police confirmed to Baltic news outlet Delfi that a Russian citizen had been beaten outside his home in Vilnius on March 12 at 10 p.m. but did not provide an identity for the man.
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The Anti-Corruption Foundation, which Nalvany founded, shared photos showing Volkov’s bloodied leg and swollen face after the attack. It also shared photos of him on a gurney, being loaded into an ambulance.
No details about the alleged assailant were released, and its unclear if the suspect was apprehended by police. Yarmysh told the independent Russian news outlet Meduza that Volkov fought back, however.
“He began to fight back with the car door and with his legs,” she reportedly said. “Therefore, they hit him where they could—on his legs.”
Volkov subsequently posted a video on his Telegram confirming his injuries and his return home from the hospital. According to a translation by Meduza, he describes how his arm was broken, but despite being hit with a hammer “roughly 15 times,” his legs were not broken.
Volkov called the attack “an obvious, characteristic, typical, gangster-style greeting from Putin.” Lithuania’s president also called out Putin directly for the vicious hammer attack, saying Wednesday that it was likely “planned” and may have been carried out “under the influence of the Kremlin.”
“I can say only one thing to Putin: Nobody is afraid of you here,” President Gitanas Nausėda said, promising a thorough investigation into the violence.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis wrote on X , “News about Leonid’s assault are shocking. Relevant authorities are at work. Perpetrators will have to answer for their crime.”
The attack came hours after Volkov discussed in an interview with Meduza the dangers of carrying on Nalvany’s work following his death.
“The key risk is that we will all be killed,” he said.
