Troublemaker on the railway

Now Zuev is on the territory of Ukraine. He learned that a case had been opened from his mother - she received a notification.

Zuev told OVD-Info that the reason for the criminal case, apparently , was a domestic incident on July 20 at the station in Kazan, where special security measures were taken in connection with the World Aquatics Championships. The activist was forced to go through a metal detector several times, which caused him outrage. “It was raining heavily, and I asked why the people standing behind me should get wet,” explains Zuev. “There was bickering, and I rashly said: ‘Idlers, parasites, why keep you here, don’t produce anything?’” After this, the activist was detained and taken to the police station at the station. They took an explanation from Zuev, photographed him, and took his fingerprints. According to him, they have already started drawing up a report against him under criminal articles for insulting and using violence against a representative of the authorities, although, according to him, there was “nothing but indignation” in his actions; then they left only the insult - v. 319 CC.

“In order to hush up this whole matter, I approached the police officers, apologized for my behavior, and said that this would not happen again,” says Zuev. A conciliatory handshake took place, the police promised the activist that “everything will be fine, there will be no problems,” and even showed him that they were “tearing some pieces of paper.”

However, as it now turns out, such an insignificant event nevertheless became the reason for initiating a criminal case. Zuev does not exclude that this is connected with his activist activities. In a conversation with OVD-Info , he recalled how in December 2014 he was taken off the train in Bryansk while traveling from Kiev. This happened a week after the lecture at the Free Resistance School was dispersed. The court sent Zuev under administrative arrest for petty hooliganism.

After this, in Moscow, the activist was fired from the central directorate of infrastructure of the Moscow railway JSC Russian Railways . At the same time, at first he was assured at work that the story in Bryansk would have no consequences for him, but then they said: “Either you quit by agreement of the parties, or under the article” (that is, with an entry in the work book of such grounds for dismissal, which could negatively affect subsequent employment). Zuev believes that FSB officers put pressure on his superiors.

The activist currently has no plans to return to Russia.