Russia is quietly trying to extend Putin critic Alexei Navalny's sentence by 15 years as the world fixates on Ukraine

• A Russian court sentenced Navalny to 32 months in prison last year for missing parole.
• Russian prosecutors have now accused him of embezzling money from his organization.

Russia is quietly trying to condemn Alexei Navalny to 15 more years in prison as the world fixates on Ukraine.

Navalny, a vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin, was sentenced to two years and eight months in February 2021 for violating terms of a suspended sentence.

Navalny missed parole hearings in August 2020 because he was in Germany recovering from a poisoning attempt that he accused Putin of ordering.

During his recovery, a Russian investigative committee also accused Navalny of taking 2.6 million roubles ($35,000) of political donations for personal use.

His trial started on Tuesday, with Russian authorities charging him with embezzlement and contempt of court. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 15 years.

The trial is being held inside the penal colony in Pokrov, near Moscow, where Navalny is serving his current sentence, with the media and public banned from the courtroom, MediaZona reported.

Navalny's anti-corruption foundation (FKB) — which Russia outlawed in June last year — called the case against their founder "absurd."

The trial falls at a convenient time for Russia.

The world is currently on Russia's buildup of at least 130,000 troops at Ukraine's borders, which has incensed the US and its European partners.

"Putin is cracking down while the world watches Ukraine," the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy tweeted Tuesday.

Rights activists have slammed Russia's attempts to silence Navalny.

"Navalny was detained under politically-motivated charges and should never have been imprisoned in the first place," Marie Struthers, Amnesty International director for Eastern Europe and central Asia, said Monday.

"A closed-door trial without public access only makes one more suspicious about new human rights violations the Russian authorities are trying to hide."

In an Instagram post on Monday, Navalny's wife Yulia wrote: "This is a lawless and unscrupulous trial, and the way it is organized proves the best that my husband is an honest man. And they keep him in prison, because he is not afraid of this government."