Russian TikToker reportedly flees country after attacks by online censorship advocate

The head of a Kremlin-affiliated pressure group lobbying for stricter internet censorship in Russia has called on the country’s Defence Ministry to draft a Russian TikTok star into the military for “Russophobic statements he made abroad”.

Yekaterina Mizulina, who heads the Safe Internet League, accused TikToker Danya Milokhin of making disloyal statements and suggested that he be made to “prove his loyalty to his Motherland with a weapon in his hand”.

Milokhin, who left Russia last October to live in the United States, recently returned to Russia, Mizulina reported on Monday. However, on Tuesday Mizulina said that Milokhin had left Russia for the United Arab Emirates following her public calls for him to be drafted.

Shortly after leaving Russia last autumn, Milokhin joined Ukrainian YouTuber Artur Babich on a livestream where the pair sang the Ukrainian national anthem, an act the Russian authorities have prosecuted in other cases under legislation that criminalises “discrediting the Russian military”.

Yekaterina Mizulina is the daughter of Russian senator Yelena Mizulina, who is notorious for her drafting of authoritarian legislation persecuting members of Russia’s LGBTQI community and restricting the adoption of Russian children by foreigners.

Yekaterina Mizulina has come to prominence in recent months for filing complaints against various Russian celebrities, accusing them of “propagandising sex and drugs”.