Key facts
- Russian opposition politician Boris Nadezhdin has been banned from leaving the country.
- Nadezhdin was recently designated a "foreign agent" by Russia's Justice Ministry.
- He was convicted of displaying "extremist symbols" for showing a picture of Alexei Navalny in an interview.
- The conviction carries a fine of 1,000 rubles and bars him from future parliamentary elections.
- Another Putin critic, Ilya Remeslo, was arrested on charges of spreading false information about the military.
Russian opposition politician Boris Nadezhdin has been banned from leaving the country, a development that follows his designation as a "foreign agent" by the Justice Ministry. Nadezhdin, who criticized Russia's military action in Ukraine and sought to challenge President Vladimir Putin in the 2024 election, was convicted of displaying "extremist symbols." The charges stemmed from a 2023 interview where he briefly showed a picture of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Nadezhdin rejected the case as absurd and argued it was an attempt to prevent him from campaigning in the upcoming parliamentary elections. A court ordered him to pay a fine of 1,000 rubles (about $13). The "foreign agent" designation carries social stigma, legal and financial restrictions, and bars him from holding public office. Nadezhdin had previously been prevented from appearing on the presidential ballot due to invalid signatures. Separately, Ilya Remeslo, a pro-Kremlin activist and blogger who has become a Putin critic, was arrested on charges of spreading false information about the Russian military.