Extract from ABC News
Lithuanian authorities have blamed Russia for an attack by a hammer-wielding assailant on an exiled top aide to late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
President Gitanas Nauseda said the attack on Leonid Volkov on Tuesday night was clearly pre-planned and tied in with other provocations against Lithuania, which is a member of NATO and the European Union.
"I can only say one thing to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin — nobody is afraid of you here," Mr Nauseda said.
Lithuania's State Security Department counter-intelligence agency said the attack, which took place at Mr Volkov’s home in Vilnius, was probably carried out to stop the Russian opposition from influencing Russia's presidential election.
Russia's embassy in Vilnius was not immediately able to comment on the accusations.
Mr Putin has been in power for nearly a quarter of a century and hopes to extend his rule by a further six years in an election due to take place in the coming days.
The Kremlin views Mr Navalny's team as "the most dangerous opposition force capable of exerting real influence on Russia's internal processes", the Lithuanian security agency said.
Mr Volkov himself pointed the finger directly at Mr Putin, writing online that he had returned home on Wednesday morning after a night in hospital, having suffered a broken arm and injuries from about 15 hammer blows to the leg.
"This is an obvious, typical criminal 'hello' from Putin, from criminal Petersburg," Mr Volkov wrote on Telegram.
"We will keep on working and we will not surrender," he said.
"It's hard but we’ll handle it ... it’s good to know I'm still alive."
Mr Navalny who was Mr Putin's most prominent critic, died last month in an Arctic prison. Russian authorities say he died of natural causes.
His followers believe he was killed by the authorities, which the Kremlin denies.
'Very dark times'
In an interview with Reuters hours before Tuesday night's assault, Mr Volkov said leaders of Mr Navalny's movement in exile feared for their lives.
"They know that Putin not only kills people inside Russia, he also kills people outside of Russia," Mr Volkov said in the interview. "We live in very dark times."
Former spokesperson for Mr Navalny, Kira Yarmysh, posted images online of Mr Volkov on X with a bruise on his forehead, blood coming from a leg wound, and a vehicle with damage to the driver's door and window.
Lithuanian Foreign Affairs Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said the perpetrators must "answer for their crime".
Lithuania's police commissioner, Renatas Pozela, said police were devoting "huge resources" to investigate the assault.
He said the attack did not mean that Lithuania was no longer safe.
The Baltic nation of 2.8 million people, which borders Russia and Belarus, has become a base for Russian and Belarusian opposition figures.
"This is a one-time event which we will successfully solve ... our people should not be afraid because of this", said Mr Pozela.
Reuters/ABC
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