An aide to the former coordinator of jailed Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny's team in the North Caucasus region of Daghestan, Murad Manapov, has fled Russia amid an ongoing crackdown on dissent.
Manapov told RFE/RL on August 11 that he is currently in Poland, adding that he has not yet applied for political asylum there.
Manapov also said he decided to leave Russia after the coordinator of Navalny's team in Daghestan, Eduard Atayev, was arrested earlier this year on an illegal weapons charge that Atayev and his supporters say was fabricated in retaliation for his political activity.
In recent months, many of Navalny's associates and members of his teams across Russia fled the country fearing for their safety amid a broad crackdown on political and civil dissent in Russia.
Navalny, who suffered a near-fatal poisoning in August 2020 that he blames on Russian security operatives acting at the behest of President Vladimir Putin, has been in prison since February 2021. His Anti-Corruption Foundation and his network of regional offices have been designated "extremist" organizations.
