By RFE/RL's Russian Service

Olga Mikhailova, a self-exiled lawyer of imprisoned Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, said on Facebook on January 16 that Russian prosecutors charged her in absentia with participating in an extremist community because of her association with Navalny and his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). In October, Navalny's other lawyers -- Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin, and Aleksei Lipster -- were arrested on the same charge. Mikhailova, who was out of Russia at the time of her colleagues' arrests, decided not to return. FBK and Navalny’s other groups were labeled as extremist and banned in Russia in 2021.