Mediazona has found at least five people whom the authorities accused of extremism due to their alleged connections with the underground headquarters of Alexei Navalny.
On October 4, 2022, Navalny’s associates announced the restart of their headquarters. Before the ban in 2021, the organizations existed legally and openly, and after being recognized as “extremist,” Navalny’s supporters announced the suspension of their activities. The new headquarters were positioned as a “partisan underground”, an anonymous and decentralized system. Just six months later, security forces began to report on the capture of activists who joined them.
In March 2023, security forces detained student Artemy Perevozchikov because of the inscriptions “Freedom for Navalny”, “No to war!”, “Russian soldier is a fascist occupier” in the snow and on “urban infrastructure objects” in the center of Izhevsk. A criminal case was opened against him and he was placed under arrest. When the young man was already in the pre-trial detention center, he was fined 30 thousand rubles under the article on “discredit” army. According to the resolution, Perevozchikov told the police that “he received instructions regarding making the inscriptions on the website of Navalny’s Headquarters, and received all the instructions there.”
The Carrier's case has already begun to be considered by the Industrial District Court of Izhevsk; he is charged with vandalism motivated by political hatred (Part 2 of Article 214 of the Criminal Code) and participation in an extremist community (Part 2 of Article 281.1 of the Criminal Code).
In June, the Yaroslavl department of the Investigative Committee reported the detention of factory worker Mikhail Streknev, who “being a member of the extremist banned organizations "FBK" and “Navalny’s Headquarters,” painted inscriptions “in support of these structures” on houses and bus stops “discrediting authorities.” He was accused of participation in an extremist organization (Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code) and vandalism (Part 2 of Article 214 of the Criminal Code).
If there were a person. Graffiti, donations, work in headquarters — and other pretexts for persecuting Navalny's supporters
HSE students Ivan Trofimov and Alina Olekhnovich were detained at the end of July. Propagandist Vladimir Solovyov called them «activists of 'underground headquarters'» Navalny,” who helped FBK. The young people were initially placed under house arrest, but later transferred to a pre-trial detention center. On September 20, their arrest was extended. At this meeting, the investigator demanded that the press be removed, saying that the case concerned the activities of an extremist organization, whose members also operate abroad: “This extremist organization has an underground network that is engaged in subversive activities on the territory of the Russian Federation.” In January, the case against the students was filed in the Khoroshevsky Court of Moscow. They are charged with participation in an extremist community (Part 2 of Article 282.1 of the Criminal Code).
In October, the Basmanny Court of Moscow placed 28-year-old programmer Alexei Malyarevsky under arrest on charges of participation in an extremist organization. On September 1, Malyarevsky went to Manezhnaya Square with a poster “Freedom for Navalny, freedom for political prisoners.” He was quickly detained, but, according to SOTAvision, he was released without a protocol. During the picket, Malyarevsky said that this was his first such action, the publication reported.
A source familiar with the case told Mediazona that Malyarevsky “is charged with participation in Navalny’s Headquarters” because, according to investigators, he “hung up leaflets.” A friend of Malyarevsky told Mediazona that he was “interested in politics, but usually this did not go beyond discussions in chats and in life.”
Director of the Anti-Corruption Foundation Ivan Zhdanov, in a conversation with Mediazona, refused to comment: “I can’t say anything about these cases.”