A close associate of jailed Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny says the Kremlin critic’s regional network will be disbanded.

Leonid Volkov, head of the Navalny regional headquarters network, said in a video posted on YouTube on April 29 that it had become “impossible” to maintain operations amid a crackdown by Russian authorities.

The announcement comes hours ahead of an expected court hearing over a request from prosecutors to declare the main pillars of Navalny’s political organization as “extremist.”