Arrests and police raids follow Russia's vote to let Putin rule for life

An opposition governor was detained and several activists had their homes raided by the police on Thursday as Russia's latest crackdown on dissent gathers momentum. The flurry of arrests and criminal inquiries follow last week's vote in which nearly 78 percent endorsed constitutional amendments allowing Vladimir Putin to stay as president at least until 2036 when he turns 83. Sergei Furgal, the governor of the Khabarovsk region in Russia's Far East who beat a Kremlin candidate at the 2018 election, was arrested by camouflaged agents of Russia's top investigative body on Thursday morning and put on a plane to Moscow. The popular governor whose landslide win at the polls embarrassed the pro-Kremlin party, is accused of organising two contract killings as well as an attempted murder 15 years ago, according to the Investigative Committee, Russia's main federal investigating authority. Mr Furgal has not been charged with any crime. An unnamed source claiming to be linked to Mr Furgal says he has denied the allegations. Mr Furgal had been in Russian parliament for more than a decade before he won the Khabarovsk election in 2018, which has raised questions about the timing of the charges brought against him.
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