Lithuania grants asylum to Russian opposition activist wanted by Kremlin

Last Thursday, the Lithuanian Migration Department approved her application for refugee status, Interior Vice-Minister Elvinas Jankevičius has said.

Russian authorities have charged Kalmykova with repeated violations of public peace and organization of unlawful protest actions, according to Russian media.

In February, a Moscow court announced a search for Kalmykova, followed by an international search via the Interpol channels in March.

She is known as critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to the Russian media, she is a prominent organizer of street protests in Moscow who has repeatedly protested against the war in Ukraine, has held hunger strikes and was arrested in January 2015 for holding a slogan Free Political Prisoners and chanting “Free Nadezhda Savchenko” outside the premises of the Russian Federal Security Service together with a friend and other activists.

She fled Russia with her teenage son at the beginning of this year in fear of imprisonment.