One anti-war critic fined, another held as Russia clamps down on opponents

Russian authorities have continued to clamp down on what little domestic opposition remains in the country by detaining a well-known blogger and moving to prevent a local politician from running for parliament.

Blogger Ilya Remeslo was a staunch supporter of Vladimir Putin until he staged a dramatic about-turn last March, calling the president a “war criminal and thief” and saying he should resign.

He has now been remanded in custody for two months on suspicion of spreading false information against the military.

Separately, Boris Nadezhdin has been convicted of “displaying extremist symbols”, a ruling that bars him from collecting signatures for parliamentary elections in September.

Nadezhdin, 63, came to prominence two years ago, when he tried to stand for the presidency on an anti-war platform, but was eventually barred because electoral authorities ruled that signatures he had submitted were flawed.

Few genuine opposition politicians are left in Russia, and former MP Nadezhdin has styled himself more as a pro-peace politician.

Most have gone into exile abroad, while the most prominent figure, Alexei Navalny, died suddenly in a penal colony in the Arctic in February 2024. Russia said he died of natural causes but the UK and four European countries , externalhave said they are confident he was “poisoned with a lethal toxin”.

Nadezhdin was initially declared a “foreign agent” last week before being detained on Monday over a video he reposted in 2023 that briefly showed an image of Navalny. He has also been barred from leaving Russia.

Being declared a foreign agent would most likely have barred him from running for office, but until he was convicted for “extremist symbols” a legal loophole meant he could still have gathered signatures to register as a candidate.

He can still appeal against the ruling, which fined him 1,000 roubles (£9.50; $13).

Nadezhdin suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes, and briefly fell when he appeared in court in his hometown of Dolgoprudny just to the north of Moscow.

Denying the charges against him, he said their real aim was to shut him up and stop him running for the Duma (Russian parliament). He also told the court he would not be able to pay any fine because all his accounts had been frozen.

Later on Friday, blogger Remeslo also appeared in court and was remanded in pre-trial detention for two months. His lawyer said he had been taken to Moscow after being detained hours earlier in his home city of St Petersburg.