Persecution of activists from the village of Poltavskaya, a rural locality in southern Russia.

Residents of the village of Poltavskaya (Krasnodar Krai, in southern Russia) are fighting against the construction of a landfill site in their region. Because of this, they regularly face pressure.

In spring 2023, pressure on the activists intensified: police came to participants in a people’s meeting, one of the activists, Lyudmila Grishkova, was threatened with a criminal case for allegedly using violence against a police officer (Article 318 of the Criminal Code), and two protest participants—a married couple, Natalya Goryaeva and Vadim Motovilov—became suspects in a criminal case on destroying a vehicle identification number (Article 326 of the Criminal Code).

The formal reason for the criminal prosecution of the activists was a broken Gazelle van they were using to keep watch and record rubbish trucks passing by.

OVD-Info has covered in detail the story of one of the local activists, Yuri Trubachyov: OVD-Info reported on his story in depth.