Two criminal cases opened against Russian feminist activists

Two separate criminal cases were opened against Russian feminist activists, independent media outlets Astra and Mediazona reported on Wednesday.

Prominent Russian feminist blogger Zalina Marshenkulova has been arrested in absentia for “justifying terrorism” over a now-deleted post in which she argued it was unnecessary to sympathise with the murdered ultranationalist war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, whom she described as “an ogre, an aggressor, a former thief who supported murder in Ukraine”.

Russia’s Interior Ministry separately issued an arrest warrant on unspecified charges for Russian feminist writer and activist Daria Serenko, who responded to the development on social media by saying that she was “hard to find, easy to lose and impossible to forget”.

Serenko fled to Georgia following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where she co-founded the Feminist Anti-War Resistance group, which was named a foreign agent by Russia’s Justice Ministry in December 2022.

One month later, Serenko was herself personally labelled a foreign agent for collecting donations in support of “unfriendly Ukraine,” for the “public promotion of individuals participating in protests” and for the “promotion of LGBT relationships.”