Ilya Remeslo, 42, faces charges of “spreading fake information on the Russian army”, under censorship laws Moscow introduced when it sent troops to Ukraine, according to lawyer Sergei Badamshin, News.Az reports, citing Kyiv Post.
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A Moscow court has remanded Remeslo in custody for two months, awaiting a trial that may put him behind bars for a maximum of ten years on those charges.
Remeslo had for years been associated with the Kremlin’s repression and targeting of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, testifying against him in court and helping land him in prison.
Navalny died in an Arctic penal colony in 2024.
But earlier this year, Remeslo turned on the Kremlin, publishing a “manifesto” against Putin and saying the longtime leader should be put on trial.
Shortly afterwards, he was sent to a psychiatric hospital — in an episode reminiscent of Soviet-era forced hospitalisation.
His arrest came a day after Remeslo wrote on his social media that “Putin will be led away in handcuffs this autumn” and that “the situation is rapidly deteriorating for Putin”.
The Russian leader’s personal ratings have taken a hit this year, as Ukrainian strikes on oil refineries have triggered a nationwide fuel crisis and are hitting ordinary life in a fifth year of war.
In an interview with Russian TV personality Ksenia Sobchak in April, Remeslo said he felt “some guilt” over the fate of Navalny.
“Not a single person deserves dying in those conditions.”
Russia does not tolerate criticism of Putin – in power for more than 25 years – or of its more than four-year military offensive against Ukraine, having introduced massive censorship after it launched the war in 2022.
