Ilya Yashin, the deputy chairman of the opposition party Parnas, announced today that an anti-extremism task force in the Russian Interior Ministry is investigating one of his tweets from July 2015. Yashin is suspected of inciting "social discord" by writing that the "best memorial to Boris [Nemtsov] would be regime change."

Yashin wrote on Facebook today that he received a call from someone identifying himself as a member of the police's anti-extremism unit. The caller informed him that there is a criminal investigation underway based on Yashin's tweet, published on July 14, 2015.

Yashin says he refused to appear at the police station to give an explanation of his tweet.

Photo: Ilya Yashin / Facebook To hell with these pen pushers, who refuse to erect a plaque in Nemtsov's honor. The best memorial to Boris would be regime change. Let's get to work.

Boris Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister and prominent critic of Vladimir Putin, was shot and killed on February 27 in the center of Moscow, not far from the Kremlin. Nemtsov was 55 years old. An ad-hoc memorial has been set up by Moscow residents at the place of the murder and people regularly bring flowers, candles and posters to the site.
In mid-July, the Moscow City Duma Committee on monuments has refused to give permission for the erection of a memorial to Nemtsov on Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge, the site of his murder. One of the official reasons for the decision was the fact that the sidewalk at the murder site is too narrow (it's 14-feet wide). The recommendation to avoid the sidewalk as a potential site for memorial placement was given by the traffic safety inspectors.

Police reportedly launch investigation against Nemtsov ally because of tweet calling for regime change