Activist detained in Moscow for protesting censorship bill

Dmitry Kisiev, campaign manager of former presidential hopeful Boris Nadezhdin, was detained on 22 July 2025 outside Russia’s State Duma in Moscow. He staged a one-person picket against amendments to Russia’s anti-extremism legislation that would penalise people for searching or viewing banned materials online. Holding a banner saying "For a Russia without censorship. Orwell wrote a dystopia, not an instruction manual," he was quickly detained by security officers. RusNews journalists filming the protest were also taken to the police station. Nadezhdin’s team said Kisiev and reporters Yulia Petrova and Konstantin Zharov were charged with violating public assembly rules. On the same day, the Duma passed amendments introducing fines of up to 5,000 rubles for first-time viewers of "extremist" materials; the law requires approval from the Federation Council and President Vladimir Putin and could come into force on 1 September 2025. Earlier in July, Russia’s Federal Security Service informed Kisiev that he would be stripped of the Russian citizenship he obtained in 2014 after the annexation of Crimea. He plans to appeal this decision.