A former loyalist blogger turned fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin has been detained and accused of spreading false information about the armed forces, state media reported Friday.Subscribe to read this story ad-freeGet unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.The news came just as a court hearing was being held for another Kremlin critic and opposition politician, Boriz Nadezhdin, in a sign of an intensified response to mounting internal dissent over the war in Ukraine and its impact on Russian life.
The blogger, Ilya Remeslo, stunned many in Russia when he published a scathing manifesto against the Russian leader that went viral in March.He was detained in St.
Petersburg early Friday and could face up to 10 years in jail, state news agency Tass reported, citing law enforcement sources.The charge he faces is a common one for opponents of the war in Ukraine, and has been used to jail numerous dissidents since the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor in 2022.
Remeslo will be brought to Moscow for a hearing to determine a pre-trial restriction, his lawyer, Sergey Badashmin, told Tass.It was not clear if Remeslo is disputing the charge.
After years of pro-Kremlin activism, Remeslo published a long post on Telegram, titled “Five reasons why I stopped supporting Vladimir Putin.” Remeslo, previously known as a vocal critic of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny who even testified against him in court, accused Putin of being “a war criminal and thief” among a litany of criticisms.The day after his essay, Remeslo, 42, ended up in a psychiatric hospital in unclear circumstances.He emerged from his hospitalization after several weeks and continued criticizing the Russian leader on his social media with the same zeal.
He gave an extended interview following the episode, saying hospitalization was “the price” of his words about Putin.Boris Nadezhdin in Moscow in 2024.Vera Savina / AFP - Getty ImagesJust as new...