Alexei Navalny calls Vladimir Putin an 'underwear poisoner'

An audio clip of jailed Kremlin-critic Alexei Navalny has surfaced in which he can be heard calling Russian President Vladimir Putin 'underwear poisoner'. Alexei Navalny was recently sent to jail by a Russian court that overturned a suspended sentence into real jail-time.

Navalny's jailing has led to an outcry both in and outside Russia. While thousands of Russian protesters have been demanding Navalny's release, countries and blocs like the EU, US, Britain and Germany have upped the international pressure to free Navalny.

The latest audio clip has brought in quite a comic element into the mix.

“(Putin’s) only method is killing people. However much he pretends to be a great geo-politician, he’ll go down in history as a poisoner. There was Alexander the Liberator, Yaroslav the Wise, and Putin the Underwear Poisoner,” Navalny can be heard saying in the audio clip.

Navalny, one of Putin’s most prominent critics, was arrested on Jan. 17 for alleged parole violations after returning from Germany where he had been recovering from being poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent.

Navalny alleges that Russian agents, acting under orders from Putin poisoned his underwear. Kremlin has denied the charges.

(With Reuters inputs)