Alexander Grigoriev

He is a member of the Yabloko party. He regularly held solitary pickets against the decisions of local authorities. He staged theatrical shows to exorcise spirits from the regional Council of Deputies and regional administration. On 29 August, Grigoriev was detained in a cafeteria while he was working on a FIFO roster in the town of Stary Oskol (the Belgorod region) and taken to Lipetsk, where he was searched. Grigoriev was then taken to the Investigative Committee, where he was interrogated in the case of spreading deliberately false information about the Russian Armed Forces in the presence of a state-appointed lawyer. The activist was asked, in particular, how he feels about the war, the letters Z and V, and why he writes “putin” without capitalisation. After the interrogation Grigoriev was released under the obligation to show up. Initially the case was reported to have been initiated under paragraph “e” of Part 2 of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code (dissemination of deliberately false information about the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation motivated by hatred), but later Grigoriev was said to have been charged under Part 1 of that article. After the information about the criminal case appeared, Grigoriev lost his job: his employer did not renew the contract with the activist, stating that he did not need “criminals”. In connection with his statements about the investigator who oversaw the case of “fakes” in Dzen and on VKontakte (Grigoriev, in particular, called him a “ragged bitch”), a case of insulting a representative of the authorities was also initiated against the activist. According to the latest information, the joint case still involves paragraph “e” of Part 2 of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code. Grigoriev was on a recognisance not to leave the country. In September, the court arrested Grigoriev in absentia and an arrest warrant was issued for him.