In Poland

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Volkov was one of Navalny's closest confidants, including his former chief of staff.

(Bild: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Following the brutal hammer attack on the confidant of the Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny Leonid Volkov, who died in custody, two suspects have now been arrested in Poland.

The suspects are to be handed over to Lithuania soon after the procedural steps have been completed, as Polish President Gitanas Nauseda said in Vilnius on Friday, according to Lithuanian radio. He thanked the Polish authorities for their work. There was initially no comment from them.

The head of state of the Baltic EU and NATO country did not initially provide any further information on the two suspects or the possible extradition date. The Lithuanian police did not comment either.

Attacked in front of his house
Volkov, who lives in exile in Lithuania, was attacked and injured outside his home in Vilnius in March. The reasons behind the attack are still unclear. The close confidant of the Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, who died in a prison camp on 16 February, blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin. Lithuania's intelligence service suspected that Russian special services were behind the attack on the opposition figure.

Volkov welcomed the success of the authorities' investigation - without knowing any details himself. "I have seen how energetically and persistently the Lithuanian police have worked on this case over the past month, and I am very happy that this work has been successful," he wrote on Telegram. "Well, we will know the details soon. I can hardly wait."