MOSCOW, February 19. /TASS/. The Federation Council’s temporary commission for the protection of state sovereignty and prevention of external interference in Russia’s internal affairs will monitor comments by other countries and their diplomatic missions in connection with the forthcoming court hearings on criminal cases opened against blogger Alexey Navalny, the commission’s chief, Andrei Klimov, told TASS on Friday.

"Ahead of the verdicts to be pronounced in the criminal cases involving Navalny the commission will keep a close watch on the rection to and comments on the results of court hearings by other countries and their diplomatic missions. Any attempts at putting pressure on the judicial system will be interpreted as intervention in the sovereign affairs of Russia and retaliated against," he said.

Klimov recalled that under article 118 of the Russian Constitution justice in Russia was administered by courts of law and that judges under article 120 were independent and obliged to abide by the Constitution and the federal law.

"We advise everybody to remember this," Klimov said.

Two sessions will be held at Moscow’s Babushkinsky court on February 20 - one over a slander case and another over the replacement of a suspended sentence with a real one in the Yves Rocher case.

Moscow’s Simonovsky court on February 2 held an onsite session at the Moscow City Court at the request of the federal penitentiary service FSIN to replace a 3.5-year suspended prison term, handed to Navalny in the Yves Rocher case, with a real one due to numerous violations. Navalny is to serve the prison term in a standard security penitentiary. He will stay in custody until the sentence takes effect.