MOSCOW, October 24. /TASS/. Blogger Alexey Navalny does not have any legal right to participate in the 2018 presidential election in Russia, the head of the department for supervision over observance of human rights and freedoms at the Prosecutor-General’s Office said.

Larisa Kopteva noted that Navalny was handed a five-year suspended sentence as part of the embezzlement case. This offence falls under an elevated grade of felonies. Under Russia’s law, citizens cannot take part in the polls if they were convicted for high-graded felonies, and have outstanding convictions.

"Under these circumstances, there are no legal rights for Alexey Navalny’s participation in the elections of any level, including municipal, regional, the elections to the State Duma and as a candidate for the Russian president," she said.