MOSCOW – Activists for imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Sunday called for massive protests in the heart of Moscow and St.
Petersburg as Navalny’s health reportedly is deteriorating severely while on hunger strike. Leonid Volkov, a top strategist for Navalny, said the demonstrations were called on short notice for Wednesday because “his life hangs in the balance. ...
We don’t know how long he can hold on.. But it is clear we do not have time.” The 44-year-old Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's most visible and persistent critic, started a hunger strike more than three weeks ago to protest prison authorities’ refusal to allow him to be seen by a private doctor for diagnosis of severe back pain and loss of feeling in