Leonid Zakamaldin

Born in Chelyabinsk, lived in Kyiv since 2014. Blogger, animal rights activist, engaged in saving otters. After the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Zakamaldin was deprived of his Ukrainian residence permit, and his bank accounts were frozen. In addition, three of his flats in Ukraine were seized. On 8 May 2024, he went to Venezuela. He was hoping to obtain local citizenship and, after that, solve the problems that arose in Ukraine due to his Russian citizenship.

On 29 June 2024, Zakamaldin was detained at Caracas airport at the request of Russia. Then it became known that he was wanted in Russia in the case of calls to extremism. In July 2025, relatives learnt that Zakamaldin was also charged with state treason. In August, it was reported that the case also included calls to terrorism and activities against the security of the Russian Federation (on the contrary, there is no article on calls to extremism in the case).

The reason for criminal prosecution was anti-war posts that the man published on his blog. In one of them, he called Crimea a Ukrainian territory, and called to send Russian President Vladimir Putin "under the tribunal" and "to give Russia freedom".