They came to the opposition because of the ex-deputy – Picture of the Day – Kommersant

On Thursday, searches were carried out in seven regions at once as part of a criminal case initiated at the end of summer against former State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomarev (included in the register of foreign agents). He is suspected of disseminating deliberately false information about the Russian army (Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, up to five years in prison) due to statements made on the channel of the opposition Free Russia Forum. During the searches, the security forces confiscated equipment from several politicians, activists and journalists, they were asked questions about their connection with Ilya Ponomarev. One of the activists, associate professor at Moscow State University, coordinator of the platform for supporting opposition candidates, Mikhail Lobanov, was beaten and arrested for disobeying the police for 15 days.

Searches at the activists’ homes have been going on since five in the morning on December 29. Everyone the siloviki approached in Moscow participated in one way or another in the capital’s municipal elections that took place in September.

Sergei Tsukasov, ex-deputy of the Ostankinsky district of Moscow, coordinator of the platform for the preparation of independent mundeps “Deputy Academy” was the first to write about the police visit. According to him, in the morning the security forces broke the lock in the apartment of his 88-year-old mother. In a protocol published in Telegram channel politician, it is said that the police did not find items related to the criminal case of “military fakes” during the search. In official documents, the person involved in the case, in connection with which the searches were carried out, was not indicated. However, according to Mr. Tsukasov, in the conversation, the security forces explained that he was talking about Ilya Ponomarev, against whom, at the end of the summer, a case was initiated under the article on “military fakes”.

Recallthat the reason for initiating a case against Ilya Ponomarev was the words he said in March 2022 on the YouTube channel of the opposition Free Russia Forum about the destruction of civilians and a clergyman by Russian troops.

On August 22, State Duma deputies called on the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Investigative Committee to give a legal assessment of Mr. Ponomarev’s statement about the involvement of a certain “National Republican Army” in murder daughter of publicist Alexander Dugin.

In Moscow, the ex-municipal deputy of the Donskoy district Vladimir Zalishchak (was elected from Yabloko in 2017) was also searched, but the details of what happened are unknown: at the time of writing, there was no connection with the ex-deputy. Both Vladimir Zalishchak and Sergei Tsukasov ran in the municipal elections in September this year, but were deregistered due to their “involvement” in the headquarters of the opposition leader Alexei Navalny (recognized as extremist organizations, liquidated and banned).

The security forces also came to the apartment of the former candidate for the State Duma from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the coordinator of the platform for supporting opposition candidates for municipal deputies “Nomination” Mikhail Lobanov. They seized the equipment and detained the activist. The wife of Mr. Lobanov wrote on Twitter that the security forces “behaved unreasonably harshly”: they beat the politician in the face and in the chest, and then they took him to the police department of the Ramenki district for disobedience to the police (Article 19.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses). In support of these words, associates of Mr. Lobanov posted photos on social networks with the politician lying on the floor and with blood stains on the carpet. Later, the Nikulinsky court arrested him for 15 days.

The Moscow activists whose houses were searched deny any connection with Ilya Ponomarev. There is no information in open sources that any of them participated in his projects, events, or otherwise supported his activities.

In parallel, searches were carried out in six more regions, sources say. “RIA News” in law enforcement agencies. From open sources it is known about two visits of the police to Tyumen: there the security forces came to the journalist of the publication 72.ru Artur Galiyev, whose phone and laptop were confiscated. They also removed Nikita Kiforuk, editor-in-chief of 86.ru (the portal of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug), who was on his way to Tyumen to visit his family, from the train. The latter managed to phone his colleagues and reported on the seizure of equipment and questions from the security forces about the connection with Ilya Ponomarev. Mr. Galiev said that in the search warrant he also had the name of Mr. Ponomarev, although the journalist was “not at all aware of his activities.”

This is already the second wave of searches in the case of Ilya Ponomarev: the first passed in early September. State news agencies, citing sources, wrote that they were held in the places of residence of the administrators of Mr. Ponomarev’s channels in Telegram and YouTube. Ilya Ponomarev was a State Duma deputy from 2007 to 2016 from the Just Russia party. In 2014, he voted against the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation and left the country in the summer of the same year. In May 2019, the former Russian politician received citizenship of Ukraine, and since February 2022 he has been actively supporting the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Kira Heifetz