Russian Court Orders Navalny to Take Down Corruption Investigation Into National Guard

A court in Moscow has ordered opposition leader Alexei Navalny to take down his second video investigation in two years.

Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation alleged in August that at least $29 million had been stolen from the Russian National Guard’s food supply contracts. The video led the head of the National Guard, Viktor Zolotov, to challenge Navalny to a duel – with the Kremlin’s tacit approval – where he vowed to turn the outspoken Kremlin critic into “mincemeat.”

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“The court satisfied the ‘Druzhba Narodov LLC’ meat processing plant’s protection of business reputation claim against Navalny,” Moscow’s arbitration court told Interfax on Tuesday.

Later that day, Navalny tweeted an ironic acronym for a Russian phrase that roughly translates as “we’re so surprised.”

An Anti-Corruption Foundation lawyer said they planned to appeal the court decision.

Last month, a Moscow court rejected National Guard director Viktor Zolotov’s slander lawsuit against Navalny in connection with the same procurement contract investigation.

Previously in 2017, Navalny’s foundation complied with a court order to remove excerpts of a video investigation accusing Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and billionaire Alisher Usmanov of corruption.