Russian police searching Navalny ally’s flat treated to Beethoven piano recital

Reuters

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian investigators searching the Moscow flat of an ally of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny were given an unusual welcome late on Wednesday – a spirited Beethoven piano recital by the activist who they later arrested.

Police are targeting Navalny’s allies after tens of thousands of people took to the streets on Saturday to demand he be released from jail, something a judge on Thursday refused to do.

 

Navalny’s allies have called for new protests this weekend.

 

Police in Moscow went to the flat of Anastasia Vasilyeva, head of the Russia’s Doctors Alliance trade union and a close ally of Navalny, late on Wednesday.

 

In a show of quiet defiance, footage of the moment shows Vasilyeva playing Beethoven on a white piano as police inform her they are about to search her flat.

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Bugs Marlowe

Article URL : https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-politics-navalny-search-piano-idUSKBN29X1ZO