RFE/RLFri, 16 Jun 2017 17:26 UTC
Two Russian opposition figures from Aleksei Navalny's party asked for political asylum at the Ukrainian border on June 15, Ukraine's Border Guard Service said.
"Men arrived at the checkpoint and after showing foreign passports of the Russian Federation, immediately expressed their intention to seek protection on Ukrainian territory due to political harassment in Russia," the service said.
Border agents screened the two men along with Ukraine's SBU security service and determined that they belonged to the opposition bloc led by Navalny, which has been persecuted for its political activity.
Both men were allowed to cross the border and were sent to the migration service, Ukrainian authorities said, without providing the men's names.
Navalny and at least 1,500 of his followers were arrested on June 12 in Moscow and other cities across Russia for unauthorized anticorruption protests. Navalny was jailed for 30 days.
Comment: Ukraine? Seriously? No wonder these clowns are so unpopular in Russia. That would be like two American Green Party members seeking asylum in North Korea. If anything, this just shows how out of touch Navalny's so-called opposition is. Ukraine is a failed state, an American vassal, and way more corrupt and repressive than Putin's Russia. And Russians know it - Ukraine is killing ethnic Russians in the Donbass and has been for years now. But then, maybe all these things are why it makes such an ideal destination for the American-backed Russian "opposition"?
Somehow that happening does not sound too impossible to me.