Exiled top aide to late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Leonid Volkov, said on Saturday (May 18) he will “never give up” the fight against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Billed by British public broadcaster BBC as Volkov’s first interview since he was attacked, Volkov said that this had been Navalny’s message and that he intended to honour it by keeping up the pressure on Putin through the Navalny Foundation.

Volkov was attacked by someone with a hammer in March outside his home in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital.

Lithuanian counterintelligence said at the time that the attack was the work of Russian special services and Volkov blames Putin for the attack. The Kremlin has declined to comment.

Alexei Navalny, who died in a Russian jail in February, was the fiercest domestic opponent of Putin, whom he accused of trying to kill him and of having him jailed on bogus charges and deprived of medical care.

In the interview Volkov said Navalny’s wife, Yulia, was perceived to be her husband’s natural successor.

(Reuters)