Russian authorities have continued to clamp down on what little domestic opposition remains in the country by detaining a well-known blogger and moving to prevent a local politician from running for parliament. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing BBC News.
Blogger Ilya Remeslo was a staunch supporter of Vladimir Putin until he staged a dramatic about-turn last March, calling the president a "war criminal and thief" and saying he should resign. He has now been remanded in custody for two months on suspicion of spreading false information against the military.
Separately, Boris Nadezhdin has been convicted of "displaying extremist symbols", a ruling that bars him from collecting signatures for parliamentary elections in September. Nadezhdin, 63, came to prominence two years ago, when he tried to stand for the presidency on an anti-war platform, but was eventually barred because electoral authorities ruled that signatures he had submitted were flawed. He was declared a "foreign agent" last week and banned from leaving Russia. The court fined him 1,000 roubles (£9.50; $13). Nadezhdin said he would not be able to pay any fine because all his accounts had been frozen. Denying the charges, he said their real aim was to shut him up and stop him running for the Duma.
Remeslo is accused of disseminating fake news about the military because of his March 2026 blog post entitled "Five reasons why I stopped supporting Vladimir Putin" on Telegram. He complained about damage to Russia's economy and the government's restrictions on internet and media freedom. On the eve of his arrest, Remeslo posted on Telegram that "the situation is getting worse rapidly for Putin", citing Russia's energy crisis and intensifying conflicts among the elites. Ukraine has targeted oil refineries and storage depots across Russia, leading to fuel shortages in many regions including Moscow.
Two opinion polls in Russia suggest Putin's popularity has dropped this month. The Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) said his approval rating had fallen to 66%, down five points in the week to 12 July. State-owned pollster VTsIOM put his rating at 65.1%, the lowest since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine in February 2022. "Everything is moving toward a situation where even a small push could lead to Putin losing power," Remeslo claimed.