An activist of the National Bolshevik Platform asked for asylum from the Ukrainian authorities

National Bolshevik Platform activist Alexander Shelkovenkov asked for political asylum from the Ukrainian authorities. According to unconfirmed reports, on May 9 he was in the Sumy region, currently in Kyiv.

Shelkovenkov was repeatedly detained at rallies in Moscow. In January 2015, he received 45 days for a rally in support of Nadezhda Savchenko: 15 days for disobeying a lawful request of police officers and 30 days for “repeated violation” of the procedure for holding public events. Later, Shelkovenkov’s second term was cut in half. Together with other activists, he was repeatedly detained near the Basmanny Court during the trial of Ildar Dadin; Shelkovenkov was also placed under arrest.

On June 12, 2015, Shelkovenkov, along with Left Front activists, was beaten by SOBR, FSB and Center for Combating Extremism officers, who accused them of illegal possession of weapons and terrorism. In December 2015,a search was carried out in the apartment of Shelkovenkov’s parents: they were told that their son was suspected of selling a bank card issued to him, from which several million rubles were then cashed out. The activist himself then said that shortly before that he had lost his wallet with cards and did not block them.