Russian police search home of neo-Nazi activist and politician Dmitry Demushkin

Russian nationalist and neo-Nazi Dmitry Demushkin reported on Telegram that police had come to his apartment and begun “banging on his door” at 6:00 am Tuesday morning. He said he didn’t know the reason for their visit.

An associate of the extremist politician confirmed to Meduza that police went to Demushkin’s house but did not give more details.

Demushkin’s lawyer, Oleg Kolesnikov, told RBC that law enforcement searched his client’s home. “They confiscated his phone and interrogated him, though they haven’t arrested him at this point, [but] it’s a matter of time. It's related to his journalistic activities,” said Kolesnikov. He also said that Demushkin is serving as a witness in a criminal case.

Russian law enforcement told TASS that Demushkin’s apartment was being searched and that Demushkin himself “will likely be arrested.”

Update: At about 1:20 pm Moscow time, human rights advocate Eva Merkacheva reported that Dmitry Demushkin had been released from investigative procedures. According to Merkacheva, “an inspection is currently being conducted, no criminal case has been initiated.” The reason for the inspection, she wrote, was the “possible discrediting of the state authorities abroad.”

• Dmitry Demushkin is one of the organizers of the nationalist Russian March, an annual event known for participants’ displays of racism and xenophobia. In 2017, he was sentenced to two and a half years in prison on extremism charges for two photos from 2014’s Russian March that he posted on social media. He was released early in February 2019.