Leonid Melekhin

An activist from Perm, a city in the Urals. He attempted to emigrate from Russia and, in August 2024, tried to enter the United States by crossing the border from Mexico. He was detained and placed in an immigration detention centre, where he spent several months. According to the news outlet Properm.ru, Melekhin lost his court cases seeking the right to reside in the United States. He was then slated for deportation and handed over to the Russian authorities. By that time, he had been placed on a wanted list in Russia and added to Rosfinmonitoring’s register of “terrorists and extremists”. A state-appointed lawyer claimed that Melekhin had not been deported by the authorities but had chosen to return to Russia voluntarily after being denied asylum in the US, despite knowing that a criminal case had already been opened against him.

In Russia, the activist was detained in a case of justifying terrorism. On 25 July 2025, he was remanded in custody.

Mediazona, citing a source close to Melekhin, reported that the case was triggered by an action he carried out before leaving for the US. The activist hung a mannequin on the Kommunalny Bridge in Perm with a photograph of Vladimir Putin attached and a placard reading: “Vladimir Putin. Murderer, fascist, usurper. All that is needed for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing. Hang the fascist.” A post with a photo of the hanging mannequin was later published by another Perm activist who had left Russia, Yury Bobrov. According to him, Melekhin had asked him to share the image so that the protest would not go unnoticed, after which he left Russia. Another version says that Melekhin displayed only the placard.