Ilia Azar

He is a journalist at Novaya Gazeta Europe, formerly worked for Meduza and is a former Moscow municipal deputy. In February 2025, he was included in the register of “foreign agents”. On 23 April 2025, his mother’s house in Moscow was searched. A case was reported to have been initiated against Azar for organising the activities of an “undesirable” organisation: the investigation considers him to be one of the founders of the association Deputies of Peaceful Russia. On 23 May 2025, he was arrested in absentia.