Dmitrii Retikh

Playwright. On 20 June 2025 he was detained in Moscow. He had his home searched (criminal proceedings had apparently not been initiated at that time), and then taken to the police station, where he was interviewed by officers of the Centre for Countering Extremism. The reason was correspondence with an account allegedly linked to the "Russian Volunteer Corps". After he refused to answer questions, a report under an administrative article (it is not known under which one) was drawn up and he was arrested. This was followed by two more arrests under administrative articles. After the third arrest he was taken to the Investigative Committee, where he was threatened with a criminal case of high treason. He was told that he participated in the activities of the RVC and carried out "terrorist assignments". Retikh was again subjected to an administrative arrest, after which he was released, obliged to live with acquaintances under outside surveillance. According to "Pervyi Otdel" (Russian for "First Department"), an employee of the Centre for Countering Extremism would call the playwright and clarify his whereabouts when he left the house. Retikh later managed to leave the Russian Federation. He was put on a wanted list, the charges remain unknown.