“Everyone who could attacked me: the Ministry of Justice declared me a ‘foreign agent,’ the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the court labeled me an extremist propagandist, the Federal Bailiff Service banned me from leaving the country, and the Deposit Insurance Fund and the Bank of Lithuania declared me bankrupt.
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The designation as a ‘foreign agent’ and accusations of extremism under the election law deprive me of the opportunity to be elected to the State Duma. So my ability to legitimately engage in opposition politics in Russia has been exhausted. I hope it is only temporary,” B. Nadezhdin wrote on his Telegram channel.
The politician also indicated that the collected voter signatures will not be submitted to the election commission, and the funds from the election account will be used to settle payments with signature collectors and campaign staff.
In his post, B. Nadezhdin thanked everyone who supported him “all these years”: those who “voted, collected signatures, donated, came to courts and meetings, read and commented on posts, simply said and wrote warm words in difficult moments.”
“As long as there are people like you in Russia – hope will never be lost! Now I need to think about how to live on. I hope to remain alive and free. I am convinced – everything will be fine, though not immediately!” he concluded.
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The politician’s decision to end the campaign was made after a series of court rulings. On July 16, the Dolgoprudny city court found B. Nadezhdin guilty of displaying “extremist” symbols and fined him 1000 rubles (11 euros). The reason was his shared link to a video published in 2023 by another opposition politician, showing a photo of Alexei Navalny.
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Upon the decision taking effect, B. Nadezhdin will be banned from participating in elections.
“The real goal of what is happening here is to shut my mouth and prevent me from entering the State Duma. Signatures are being collected for me in four cities in the Moscow region… According to polls, I am winning the elections,” he explained in court.
Earlier, on July 10, B. Nadezhdin was declared a “foreign agent,” and on July 13, he was detained by law enforcement agencies. The politician himself links his persecution to his refusal to stop collecting signatures to support his candidacy for the State Duma.
Before his detention, he publicly stated that Russia is in trouble because, during the 27 years that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin has been in power, the country has found itself in conditions of war, drone attacks, internet blocking, gasoline shortages, price increases, isolation, and authoritarianism.
After his detention, he reported that he could leave Russia, but the Federal Bailiff Service banned him from leaving the country.
The politician planned to run as an independent candidate in the Mitishchi single-mandate district near Moscow, where more than 15,000 signatures were required for registration.
In 2024, he also tried to participate in the Russian presidential election, but the Central Election Commission refused to register him due to alleged errors in collecting signatures, and the party that nominated him, “Civic Initiative,” was later liquidated by a Supreme Court decision.
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