Jailed Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny has condemned Russia's attack on Ukraine in a statement he made at his ongoing trial held in a penal colony.
On February 24, during the trial on embezzlement charges that he rejects as politically motivated, Navalny asked the court to include his statement into the trial's protocol.
"This war between Russia and Ukraine was unleashed to cover up the theft from Russian citizens and divert their attention from problems that exist inside the country," he said.
Navalny, dressed in a prison uniform, said the war would "lead to a huge number of victims, destroyed futures, and the continuation of this line of impoverishment of the citizens of Russia."
SEE ALSO: Zelenskiy Says Ukraine Has Suffered 'Serious Losses' After Russian Air Strikes Pound Dozens Of Targets“I am against this war," he said, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin bears full responsibility for the conflict and calling those who launched the war "bandits and thieves."
Moscow's Lefortovo district court resumed Navalny's trial on February 21 inside the Correctional Colony No. 2 in the town of Pokrov in the Vladimir region, some 200 kilometers east of Moscow, where the Kremlin critic has spent the last year on a different charge after returning from abroad where he was recovering from a near-fatal poison attack that he blames on the Kremlin.
The trial that started on February 15 is looking into the new case against Navalny launched in December 2020 on allegations that the 45-year-old lawyer embezzled money from his now-defunct and banned Anti-Corruption Foundation. He is also accused of holding a Moscow court in contempt.
Investigators say Navalny is accused of taking $33,770 in donations that were given to his organizations and using them for his own personal benefit, accusations that the outspoken Kremlin critic and his supporters reject, calling them politically motivated.
The charges carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, while Navalny also faces up to six months in prison for the contempt-of-court charge.