Opposition politician Boris Nadezhdin sucessfully flees Russia despite exit ban
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After being barred from leaving Russia by the authorities, opposition politician Boris Nadezhdin announced on his Telegram channel on July 3 that he had managed to flee the country.
"Hello, everyone. I have some good news. I'm alive and free — just not in Russia, unfortunately," Nadezhdin said in a video filmed in front of the Eiffel Tower.
It’s not clear, based on his location in the video, whether Nadezhdin will try to seek political asylum in France. He only ended the video by saying he’ll decide on his next steps and share his plans when he’s ready.
The Russian authorities prohibited Nadezhdin on July 16 from legally leaving the country, less than a week after labeling him a foreign agent.
Nadezhdin was also previously detained on July 13 for displaying "extremist symbols" after he shared a video that featured slain Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
The pressure authorities put on Nadezhdin underscores the increasingly harsh crackdown on any form of public dissent in Russia.
Nadezhdin is considered an opposition politician in the sense that he sought to challenge Russian President Vladimir Putin in the 2024 presidential election and was the only anti-war candidate before being barred from the ballot.
However, Nadezhdin was always more of a political moderate when compared to figures like Navalny, and his criticism of the Kremlin was mild.
Before the 2024 election, he had maintained good relations with senior government officials. Analysts say the Kremlin initially allowed him to run because of those connections and because it did not view him as a threat.
Since the start of the full-scale war, a number of Russians have managed to escape the country using back channels to avoid persecution or even prison for their anti-war stances, including journalist Kateryna Barabash, schoolteacher turned documentary filmmaker Pavel Talankin, and street musician Naoko.
