Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny said Wednesday he faced up to life in prison as he denounced "extremism" and "terrorism" charges against him.

Navalny's team says authorities are preparing a major new trial against the enemy of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"They have brought absurd charges against me, according to which I am facing up to 35 years," Navalny said, appearing via video link at a pre-trial hearing at Moscow's Basmanny district court.

Navalny, 46, said that within the framework of the new case he was told he would be separately judged by a military tribunal over "terrorism" charges. He said he could face life in prison.

Last October, Navalny said that investigators had launched a new criminal case against him on allegations of "extremism" and "terrorism" and "rehabilitating the Nazi ideology".

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Navalny, who used to mobilise massive protests against the Kremlin, is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence on embezzlement and other charges.

He barely survived a poisoning with Novichok, a Soviet-designed nerve agent, which the opposition politician blames on the Kremlin. He was arrested in January 2021 upon returning from Germany after recovering from the poisoning attack.

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