The ex-coordinator of Navalny's Chelyabinsk headquarters left Russia for the United States due to pressure from the security forces

The former head of Alexei Navalny’s headquarters in Chelyabinsk, Artem Yaumbaev, left Russia for the United States. There he received political asylum. The activist wrote about this on his Twitter.

wrote According to Yaumbaev, law enforcement officers forced him to leave the country. “I was forced to leave the territory of the Russian Federation due to pressure from the security forces. Crimes are not so scary for me personally, although they are not a pleasant thing. But these nonhumans threatened not only me, but also my mother. I have no other relatives, and if they suddenly put me in prison, she will be left alone,” writes the ex-coordinator of Navalny’s Chelyabinsk headquarters on Twitter.

The activist also reported that the security forces blackmailed him: they promised to open new criminal cases and conduct searches if he did not leave, putting pressure on Yaumbaev’s mother.

At the end of April, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Chelyabinsk Region collected more than two million rubles from local activists, including Artem Yaumbaev, due to the fact that during protests in support of Alexei Navalny on January 23 and 31, police officers went on shifts outside of working hours . Yaumbaev and other activists as suspects in the case of blocking roads (Article 267 of the Criminal Code) during the protests on January 31.

demanded to pass - In the spring of 2021, employees of FBK and Navalny’s headquarters began to leave Russia en masse. Thus, in May 2021, the country was visited by the former head of Navalny’s headquarters in Kaliningrad, Maria Petukhova, and the former volunteer of the Arkhangelsk branch of Navalny’s team, Dmitry Baturo. The move is associated with growing pressure from security forces after the “Free Navalny!” protests. and the transfer to court of a case on recognizing FBK and Navalny’s headquarters as “extremist organizations.” left - on June 9, 2021, the Moscow City Court, the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), the Foundation for the Defense of Citizens' Rights (FZPG) and the headquarters of Alexei Navalny as “extremist organizations”. The ex-director of FBK, Ivan Zhdanov, is on the international wanted list, and Lyubov Sobol, who worked as a lawyer at FBK, was forced from participating in the State Duma elections because of this. admitted announced to refuse