Nadezhdin is one of the few politicians in Russia to openly criticize President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine. Last week, he was labelled a “foreign agent” by Russian authorities.
And on Friday, he was convicted in court of “displaying extremist symbols” after posting a short film clip of the dead dissident Alexei Navalny in 2023.
“My ability to legally act as an opposition politician in Russia has been exhausted,” he writes on Telegram.
Russia's Supreme Court barred Nadezhdin from running in the presidential election two years ago.
Since the invasion of Ukraine, Russian authorities have intensified the hunt for opposition figures, and hundreds have been imprisoned.
