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In St Petersburg, FSB officers searched the home of Yelena Popova, co-founder of the Conscious Objectors Movement, journalist Anton Starikov reported.
The movement itself confirmed the search shortly afterwards. They stated that law enforcement arrived at Popova’s home at 7:45 am. A lawyer has gone to see the human rights activist. The movement describes Popova as a former volunteer.
Aleksei Tabalov, executive director of “The Conscript’s School,” posted a video that Popova managed to send. Popova says in the video: “I’m being searched. They’re hacking my door with an axe. They’ve pushed so hard I can’t open it with a key anymore. I’m scared. They said: FSB.”
According to Starikov, she called the police, and a police unit arrived at the scene.
The human rights activist stopped responding to messages.
In early July, Popova announced that she intended to end her work with the Conscious Objectors Movement: “I realised that my inner resources are depleted (I have no energy left to respond to changes in the law with new recommendations for resistance, no energy to generate and spread the energy of resistance that would help people…). I want to step away from this activity completely,” she wrote on her Facebook page.
In October 2022, at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Conscious Objectors Movement’s website was blocked. In addition, the Tilda platform took it offline without prior notice or explanation.
At the time, Popova commented: “What happened, we consider an attack on freedom of speech. We did not post any ‘fakes’ about ‘discrediting’ the army on our resource. It was created to provide consultative assistance to those who do not wish to take part in military activity and kill people. To help Russian men who have the right to choose. As for ‘discrediting the army,’ military commissioners and the police, who systematically violate conscripts’ rights, have done more in this respect.”
Before that, VKontakte administrators reported that the group’s public page was blocked at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office. The authorities claimed there were “fakes” about the Russian army in the group.
16:53 The human rights project “First Department” reports that a criminal case has been opened against Popova herself for allegedly spreading “fakes” about the Russian army (under Article 207.3, Part 1 of the Russian Criminal Code).
Popova stands accused of posting on her VKontakte page a livestream marking the anniversary of the Conscious Objectors Movement. The post was published on 16 May 2024. The criminal case was opened on 2 July 2025. The publication included, among other things, a call to write letters to those arrested for refusing to go to war.
The Frunzensky District Court of St Petersburg is scheduled to choose a pretrial restriction measure for Popova on 6 August.
6 August, 12:12 The Frunzensky District Court of St Petersburg refused investigators’ request to arrest Yelena Popova and did not impose any other pretrial restriction, reports “Bumaga.”
As Mediazona writes, the hearing was held behind closed doors due to the disclosure of medical documents.
Before the hearing, Popova said that after yesterday’s search she felt unwell and was taken to hospital this morning. “Mediazona” clarified that she was hospitalised due to hypertension.
20:07 After the court hearing, Yelena Popova was taken from her home on the pretext of investigative actions, and then the chosen pretrial measure was a travel ban and a pledge to behave properly. This was reported by the Conscious Objectors Movement.
According to the organisation, law enforcement arrived at the human rights defender’s home at 4 pm. She was asked to go to the Investigative Committee for investigative actions.
Even though no pretrial restriction was chosen by the court today, the human rights activist nonetheless remained under investigation. Even before any information was available about what happened at the Investigative Committee, the movement linked the visit from law enforcement to Popova with the choice of pretrial measure.
The woman waited for her lawyers and then went to the Investigative Committee with them. There, the investigator informed her that she is under a travel ban. She is now on her way home.
The Conscious Objectors Movement reported: “All this is intense pressure. Yesterday, Yelena was detained after a search in which the officers broke the door and damaged the flat. On the morning before court, Yelena was taken to hospital. Just a few hours after the court hearing, she faced another threat of restrictions. We call on the media to pay attention to this situation, and the state machine to show humanity—let Yelena go.”
The time of the law enforcement visit to Popova was corrected in this news item after the Conscious Objectors Movement’s channel issued an update. The information regarding the activities of the Conscious Objectors Movement has also been corrected.
- The Conscious Objectors Movement provides legal, psychological and informational support to Russians who, for reasons of conscience, refuse military service and to bear arms. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the movement has also assisted those who were drafted or mobilised and do not wish to take part in the “special operation.”
- The movement was founded in 2013 by human rights defenders Yelena Popova and Miroslav Mishinov. Before that, they took part in “Soldiers’ Mothers of St Petersburg,” and founded the “For Alternative Civil Service” community, providing guidance to young people wanting to opt for alternative civilian service instead of military service. Until recently, Popova was the coordinator of the Conscious Objectors Movement. In 2017, because of the organisation’s work, she was summoned for a talk at Centre “E.”