Russia arrests Putin critic who plans to run in September elections

Russian police arrested Boris Nadezhdin, a vocal critic of the Kremlin and the war in Ukraine, on July 13, 2026. The 63-year-old politician, who gained prominence in 2024 for attempting to run against President Vladimir Putin in the presidential elections, was planning to participate in parliamentary elections scheduled for September.

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The police came.

Nadezhdin is one of the few prominent critics in Russia who publicly denounces Putin's leadership and the conflict in Ukraine without facing imprisonment or exile. His arrest came just three days after Russian authorities designated him a "foreign agent," a label the Kremlin frequently uses to suppress dissent.

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The consequences of the war are obvious to everyone.

According to Nadezhdin's own statement on Telegram, police arrived at his location. He later shared a document indicating he is being charged with "demonstration of extremist symbols." The charge stems from a 2023 video that included a photograph of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic prison in February 2024.

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The course that Putin is taking the country all these years, 25 years of his power, is the path of militarisation, isolationism and authoritarianism. It is a path that leads to chaos and, God forbid, to the example of 1917.

A lawyer informed Russian independent media that Nadezhdin would be brought before a court later on Monday. Despite the "foreign agent" designation, which he called "idiotic" and planned to contest, Nadezhdin had been actively gathering signatures to register as a candidate for the lower-house elections. He had previously criticized Putin's 25-year rule, describing it as a path of "militarisation, isolationism and authoritarianism" that could lead to chaos, referencing the 1917 Russian Revolution.

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I am the only opposition independent candidate in Russia that is gathering signatures to run.