<p>A Russian court on Friday ordered jailed dissident Alexei Navalny to pay 500,000 roubles ($6,700) in damages in a lawsuit filed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Kremlin-linked businessman, the court said.</p>.<p>Navalny, a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, was jailed for two and a half years last month over alleged parole violations related to an embezzlement case he said was trumped up for political reasons, something the authorities deny.</p>.<p>Prigozhin's company, Konkord, said the court told Navalny to pay damages for comments he made that were deemed defamatory, inaccurate and offensive. It did not elaborate on what those comments were.</p>.<p>Konkord said in December that Prigozhin had filed lawsuits against Navalny and his allies worth a total of 77 million roubles, the Interfax news agency reported.</p>.<p>The Kremlin's critics have cast those lawsuits as well as the jailing of Navalny and prosecution of some of his allies as part of a coordinated campaign to cripple their activities. Russian authorities deny those charges.</p>.<p>Navalny surfaced in a jail in Russia's Vladimir region to the east of Moscow, his allies said this week.</p>.<p>Prigozhin has been accused by the United States of election meddling and has been sanctioned by the US and European Union.</p>
<p>A Russian court on Friday ordered jailed dissident Alexei Navalny to pay 500,000 roubles ($6,700) in damages in a lawsuit filed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Kremlin-linked businessman, the court said.</p>.<p>Navalny, a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, was jailed for two and a half years last month over alleged parole violations related to an embezzlement case he said was trumped up for political reasons, something the authorities deny.</p>.<p>Prigozhin's company, Konkord, said the court told Navalny to pay damages for comments he made that were deemed defamatory, inaccurate and offensive. It did not elaborate on what those comments were.</p>.<p>Konkord said in December that Prigozhin had filed lawsuits against Navalny and his allies worth a total of 77 million roubles, the Interfax news agency reported.</p>.<p>The Kremlin's critics have cast those lawsuits as well as the jailing of Navalny and prosecution of some of his allies as part of a coordinated campaign to cripple their activities. Russian authorities deny those charges.</p>.<p>Navalny surfaced in a jail in Russia's Vladimir region to the east of Moscow, his allies said this week.</p>.<p>Prigozhin has been accused by the United States of election meddling and has been sanctioned by the US and European Union.</p>