A former staff member of Navalny’s team in Ufa, a major city in the Urals, has been charged under the “foreign agent” criminal article.

The Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case against lawyer Fyodor Telin for evading requirements placed on “foreign agents” (Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code).

The case was opened back in February, but the lawyer only found out about it in April, after his relatives were summoned for questioning by the Investigative Committee.

“For many years now, my work has been directed towards the good of Russian citizens, not in the interests of foreign states. The very fact that a case has been initiated against me under the foreign agent law is offensive to me,” the human rights defender commented on his prosecution.

• The human rights defender was added to the “foreign agent” register in November 2022. Since then, courts in Ufa—a major city in the Urals—have fined him six times for administrative offences related to the “foreign agent” law (Article 19.34 of the Code of Administrative Offences): three times for failing to include the required label in posts, and three more for not submitting reports to the Ministry of Justice.
• Telin left Russia in 2021, shortly after the decision to ban the FBK and Navalny’s headquarters came into force. After his departure, security forces conducted a search at his address.
• Before Navalny’s organisations were labelled extremist, the lawyer spent several years working at the Ufa headquarters. He was charged three times under the “protest” article (Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offences) for participating in or posting about protest actions.