Navalny associate jailed as Russian opposition crackdown continues

MOSCOW (AP) — An associate of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been imprisoned on extremism charges as part of the Kremlin’s ongoing crackdown on political activists. Navalny’s team wrote on social media that Vadim Ostanin, who previously headed Navalny’s office in the southern Siberian city of Barnaul, was sentenced to nine years in a penal colony on Monday. Ostanin’s case is the latest in a string of recent convictions against regional activists that are taking place in the run-up to Navalny’s own trial on extremism accusations. Navalny has rejected all the charges against him as politically motivated and has accused the Kremlin of seeking to keep him behind bars for life.