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The Basmanny District Court in Moscow has remanded the first secretary of the Komi regional branch of the Communist Party (KPRF) and former State Duma deputy Oleg Mikhailov in a pre-trial detention centre until 21 December. This was reported by the party’s Telegram channel.
Mikhailov was detained on 21 October in Moscow after returning from holiday. He is accused of making public calls to terrorism, justifying or promoting terrorism online (part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code). The Communist Party believes the apparent reason for the charges is a 2024 post by Mikhailov related to the sociologist Boris Kagarlitsky.
Yury Sinelshchikov, a State Duma deputy from the KPRF, noted that the publication connected to Mikhailov’s case appeared back in 2024, but criminal proceedings only began after he lost his parliamentary mandate. Sinelshchikov suggested that law enforcement may have been waiting for his parliamentary immunity to expire.
“Law enforcement sat and waited for the person to lose their deputy status, and then arranged… Well, maybe I’m rushing to call it ‘reprisal,’ but, so to speak, an investigation,” said Sinelshchikov.
Mikhailov heads the Communist Party branch in Komi, a northern region, and until recently was a State Duma deputy. He has often been fined over public actions. In 2019, he was fined after a protest against a landfill in Shies, where participants marched to the Komi head’s administration to deliver the rally’s resolution. In 2021, he was given a 75,000 rouble fine (about US$800) for meeting with voters in central Syktyvkar, Komi’s capital.
In the September 2026 State Duma elections, Mikhailov lost his parliamentary mandate. During the campaign, he openly spoke out for peace, including in televised debates.