Russian Opposition Threatens Asset Freeze Over Curbs on Dissent

That should get Putin's attention

Russian opposition leaders urged President Vladimir Putin today to stop clamping down on dissent and warned they would ask Western governments to freeze assets of Russian officials involved in a spiraling crackdown on the opposition.

Alexei Navalny and other opposition activists who were elected to the opposition's Coordinating Council in a weekend online ballot accused the Kremlin of unleashing a campaign of "direct and forceful pressure against its opponents in rude violation of Russian and international law."

They pointed at what they said was the abduction of opposition activist Leonid Razvozzhayev from neighboring Ukraine as an example of the repression of dissenters. The opposition leaders warned that government officials and law-enforcement officers will face "imminent punishment for their crimes against Russian citizens."