A resident of Nizhny Novgorod has been arrested on charges of involvement with an extremist organisation for reposting material from Navalny’s channel.

37-year-old Anton Voronin, a resident of Nizhny Novgorod, has been arrested on charges of involvement in an extremist organisation (part 2, article 282.2 of the Criminal Code), which the authorities interpret as the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). His partner reported this to OVD-Info.

On 24 February, law enforcement broke down the door to Voronin’s flat. During interrogation, he stated that he had been beaten and tortured.

“When I was detained, the officers threw me to the floor, kicked me in the head, and used a stun gun on me several times. They said I couldn’t take my glasses with me; my eyesight is -4, I have myopia, I can’t see well. To stop me from shouting, they stuffed a rag into my mouth. Then they made me lie in my underwear by an open balcony door,” the interrogation protocol states (OVD-Info has the materials at its disposal). Voronin later did receive his glasses.

During the search, the couple’s phones and laptops were confiscated. Voronin said that on the way to the Investigative Committee, officers threw him onto the floor of the vehicle and stood on him.

On 25 February, the Nizhny Novgorod resident was taken into custody.

According to the document on being charged as a defendant, Voronin is accused of involvement in the Anti-Corruption Foundation and Navalny’s regional headquarters: “Voronin joined and began participating in them, systematically carrying out organisational actions aimed at continuing the unlawful activities of these civic movements,” the document states.

The Investigative Committee claims that the Nizhny Novgorod resident, in his Telegram channel “Alan Grant—Science with Journalism,” published information about the foundation’s activities and shared posts from the “Navalny” and “Navalny’s Team” channels after FBK was banned in 2021, which included links to “materials on the continued activities of FBK and its organisers.”

However, the investigator cited only one repost in the official record. On 12 July 2022, Voronin reposted a message from Alexei Navalny’s channel, in which the politician announced the creation of the international NGO Anti-Corruption Foundation International, which continues FBK’s work.

During questioning, Voronin said he did not remember whether he had reposted publications from Navalny’s channels, but that he had never supported Navalny’s activities: “I observed it as a societal phenomenon and subjected it to criticism,” he said. Voronin does not admit guilt.

Voronin’s Telegram channel has over 3,500 subscribers. He published socio-political news there, as well as materials on new technologies and scientific developments.

• This is not the first case of prosecution over participation in an extremist organisation due to reposts. In 2025, former Nizhny Novgorod “Yabloko” member Mikhail Sharygin was sentenced to three years in a general-regime penal colony under this article due to two reposts of Navalny’s regional headquarters’ publications—one in his personal Telegram channel and one on Odnoklassniki.
• In February 2026, under the same article, activist Sergei Mamaev from Yoshkar-Ola, a city in central Russia, was convicted. He was sentenced to two years and eight months in a penal colony for posts about rallies announced by FBK. Mamaev was also prosecuted for being mentioned in the “Navalny’s Team” Telegram channel and for correspondence with opposition figures unconnected to Navalny and his organisations.