Anti-war politician Boris Nadezhdin announced on his Telegram channel that he had left Russia. He posted a video with the Eiffel Tower in Paris in the background.
“There’s some good news: I’m alive and free. Unfortunately, I’m not in Russia at the moment. Now I need to take stock and work out how to move forward. I’ll write about my plans later,” he said.
Boris Nadezhdin is a former State Duma deputy for the ‘Union of Right-Wing Forces’. He rose to prominence in 2024 when he attempted to stand as a candidate for the Russian presidency on an anti-war platform. However, the Central Election Commission refused to register him, declaring 9,000 signatures collected in his support to be invalid.
In June 2026, the politician announced his plans to stand for election to the State Duma. On 10 July, he was designated a “foreign agent”, and three days later the police detained him, though he was subsequently released. On 16 July, it was reported that the Federal Bailiff Service had banned him from travelling abroad due to a previously closed enforcement proceeding relating to bankruptcy.
On 17 July, a court in Moscow fined Nadezhdin 1,000 roubles in an administrative case concerning the display of ‘extremist’ symbols. The reason for the charge was a video posted on a Telegram channel in 2023, in which a photograph of opposition figure Alexei Navalny was visible for ten seconds. Two days after the court hearing, Nadezhdin announced that he was ending his election campaign for the State Duma.