Voronezh activists were detained at Domodedovo Airport

Residents of Voronezh, Evgeny Kamenev and Alexander Knyazev, were detained at Domodedovo airport and have not been in contact since, activist Kirill Derevsky told OVD-Info.

The couple were detained around midnight on 11 December while passing through border control as they were returning from holiday. At 7am, their phones were confiscated—they have not been in touch since then.

A lawyer was able to consult the detainees by phone, but has not been able to see them in person. According to him, Kamenev and Knyazev are still in the sanitised area and have not passed passport control. Security officers are currently examining the contents of their devices; no official charges have been filed.

Kamenev and Knyazev have participated in protest actions and solo pickets in Voronezh, a major city in western Russia, as well as volunteering during Boris Nadezhdin’s presidential campaign and other opposition electoral campaigns.

In February 2025, they were detained after bringing flowers to a monument to Osip Mandelstam on the anniversary of Alexei Navalny’s death. At that time, Knyazev told OVD-Info he had been beaten at the police station because officers wanted him to unlock his phone. According to him, security officials called him a traitor, questioned him about transfers to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and threatened that “they’ll dig something up anyway.”

21:06 Kamenev and Knyazev were released after 19 hours of interrogation. This was reported by their relatives.

The activists’ phones were thoroughly checked and they were questioned about why they were not leaving the country. They themselves believe they were only released because of media publicity.