Russian authorities have intensified their crackdown on domestic opposition by detaining prominent blogger Ilya Remeslo and preventing local politician Boris Nadezhdin from participating in upcoming parliamentary elections.

Ilya Remeslo, who was previously a strong supporter of President Vladimir Putin, publicly reversed his stance in March 2026, labeling Putin a "war criminal and thief" and calling for his resignation. Remeslo has been remanded in custody for two months on suspicion of spreading false information about the military. He stated that the charges relate to his March 2026 blog post titled Five reasons why I stopped supporting Vladimir Putin.

Separately, 63-year-old Boris Nadezhdin was convicted of "displaying extremist symbols," a ruling that disqualifies him from collecting signatures to run in the parliamentary elections scheduled for September 2026. Nadezhdin gained prominence two years ago when he attempted to run for president on an anti-war platform but was barred due to alleged flaws in the signatures he submitted. He was declared a "foreign agent" last week and detained on Monday, July 13th, 2026, over a 2023 video repost that briefly showed an image of the late opposition figure Alexei Navalny.

Most opposition figures have fled Russia, while Navalny died suddenly in a penal colony in the Arctic in February 2024.

Public opinion polls reflect a decline in Putin's approval ratings amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) reported a drop to 66% approval as of July 12th, 2026, down five points in one week. State-owned pollster VTsIOM recorded a smaller decline, placing Putin's rating at 65.1%, the lowest since the full-scale war in Ukraine began in February 2022.

Observers note that "everything is moving toward a situation where even a small push could lead to Putin losing power," with the situation reportedly worsening rapidly for the president.

Sources