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.

Remeslo said he was being accused of disseminating fake news about the military because of his March 2026 blog post entitled Five reasons why I stopped supporting Vladimir Putin.

The post on the Telegram messsaging app came as a surprise in Russia, as Remeslo had previously backed Putin over the war and denounced the opposition - especially Navalny.

He complained about damage to Russia's economy and the government's restrictions on internet and media freedom, and was then sent to a psychiatric hospital for a month. After he was discharged he alleged he had been sent there against his will.

On Thursday, on the eve of his arrest, Remeslo posted on Telegram that "the situation is getting worse rapidly for Putin", citing what he said was Russia's energy crisis and intensifying conflicts among the elites.

Ukraine has targeted oil refineries and storage depots across Russia, leading to fuel shortages in many regions including Moscow.

Two opinion polls in Russia suggest Putin's popularity has dropped this month.

The Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) said his approval rating had fallen to 66%, down five points in the week to 12 July.

State-owned pollster VTsIOM said the fall was smaller, but put his rating at 65.1%, the lowest since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine in February 2022.

"Everything is moving toward a situation where even a small push could lead to Putin losing power," Remeslo claimed.