Poland arrested a former ally of the late Russian dissenter Alexei Navalny and exiled Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky on charges of threatening public safety, Polish media reported Wednesday, citing local authorities.
Igor Rogov was detained on July 29 in the southern Polish city of Katowice where he was studying on a scholarship, reported Vot Tak, a Russian-language affiliate of the Polish broadcaster Belsat, citing the Polish prosecutor’s office spokesman.
Rogov, 29, faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty of endangering public safety with the use of an explosive and up to eight years in prison if convicted of “creating an immediate threat” of public endangerment.
Polish authorities have not publicly commented on Rogov’s arrest and more details of his case were not immediately available.
Rogov will be held in pre-trial detention for three months, Vot Tak reported.
In 2017, the activist served as a senior leader of Navalny’s local political headquarters and, later, Khodorkovsky’s now-disbanded Open Russia opposition movement in the republic of Mordovia, a region in Russia’s Volga Federal District.
Poland, a European Union and NATO member, has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies since Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion.
The Central Europen country hosts a small population of Russian exiles.
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