Russian anti-war politician Boris Nadezhdin leaves country for Paris
Why it matters: His exit removes one of the last prominent Kremlin critics still trying to campaign openly inside Russia.
Boris Nadezhdin, a Russian opposition politician who opposed the war in Ukraine, said Monday that he is outside Russia after weeks of pressure that knocked him out of September’s parliamentary race. In a Telegram video filmed in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Nadezhdin said he was “alive and free” but not in Russia for now. Russia’s Justice Ministry labeled him a “foreign agent” on July 10, a move that barred his candidacy, and he was later fined over alleged extremist symbols tied to a video showing Alexei Navalny. Nadezhdin, 63, had also tried to challenge Vladimir Putin in the 2024 presidential election but was disqualified after election authorities rejected thousands of signatures.