MOSCOW (Reuters – Alexei Navalny, a Kremlin critic who was jailed on Tuesday, and a few of his associates were added to an official “terrorists” and extremists list. This is the latest move by Russian authorities in their effort to crush opposition to President Vladimir Putin.

Separately, news agencies reported that Oleg Navalny was being held in federal prison and asked for a sentence of real imprisonment instead of the one-year suspension sentence he received last year.

Navalny was an anti-corruption activist and has been a constant thorn in Putin’s side over the last decade. He was poisoned in 2020 with nerve agents and sentenced to prison for parole violations in relation to a fraud case that he claims was faked up. His political network was deemed “extremist” by the United States last year.

Navalny and his colleagues were listed as “terrorists” by the state financial monitor service. This means they are limited in bank transactions, and must seek approval before using their accounts.

Leonid Vokov, Navalny’s chief-of-staff said in a Facebook post (NASDAQ:) that he was proud to be part of the fine “extremists” and terrorists team. The Kremlin has a way of digging deeper for itself by devaluing words and twisting their meanings inside out. To make people who believe in Putin quit believing, the Kremlin does everything possible.

LyubovSobol, one the most prominent faces of Navalny’s YouTube channel, said to Ekho Moskvy radio, that Putin declared anyone he did not like terrorist.

On Tuesday, Sobol and Volkov were added to this list. They are part of a small group that Navalny considers his most trusted allies and have fled Russia in an attempt to escape arrest.

Oleg Navalny, Navalny’s younger brother was sentenced to a suspended one year sentence in August. He was part of a group that were accused of encouraging people to disregard COVID-19 and attend unauthorised protests in Jan 2021.