A member of the libertarian Tea Club left Russia with his family and spoke about the pressure from the security forces

A member of the libertarian “Tea Club” in St. Petersburg, Artem Vladimirov and his family left Russia for Finland a few months ago. He announced this on his Twitter.

His wife and son left on August 27, he himself left two weeks later. On October 21, according to him, he was summoned to the Main Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - probably in St. Petersburg. When he informed the security forces about his departure, they left him alone and even decided to return the things that had been confiscated to him.

Vladimirov said that the pressure from the security forces on him lasted for several years: previously, he administrated a protest telegram channel, one of the administrators of which was detained because of the “Revolution 05.11.17” Vyacheslav Maltsev under the drug article (Article 228 of the Criminal Code), but for unclear reasons released.

In the fall of 2018, security forces for several months put pressure on Vladimirov’s pregnant wife to write a denunciation against her husband, because of this she lost her child. The activist suffered a nervous breakdown and was admitted to the Skvortsov-Stepanov psychiatric hospital.

In 2021, the libertarian collaborated with Navalny’s headquarters. In February, he was searched in connection with the case of blocking roads in connection with a rally in support of Navalny on January 23; equipment and documents were confiscated from him, including information about his connections with Open Russia before it was recognized as an “undesirable organization.”

• “Tea Club” is “a movement for personal, economic and political freedoms,” they write on its website. Associated with libertarian philosophy.
• At the end of September 2021, the Investigative Committee announced that a case had been opened against Navalny and his associates, as well as other activists, regarding an extremist community (Parts 1 and 2 of Article 282.1 of the Criminal Code). Later it became known that several other cases filed earlier against the politician and several key figures in his structures were added to this case. At the same time, on June 9, 2021, the Moscow City Court already recognized the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), the Foundation for the Protection of Citizens' Rights (FZPG) and the headquarters of Alexei Navalny as extremist organizations.
• On January 23, 2021, in St. Petersburg, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, “a group of people, being on Malaya Morskaya Street <...>, entered the roadway, thereby impeding the movement of vehicles and forcing drivers to apply emergency braking. By moving in the crowd, the protesters created a real threat to the life, health and safety of others.” In the early morning of January 31, before the next major protest, the police began conducting searches in connection with this case at 33 addresses simultaneously. From February to April, searches took place at the homes of St. Petersburg activists and municipal deputies .
• Vyacheslav Maltsev, the leader of the Artpodgotovka movement banned in Russia, stated that on November 5, 2017, a revolution should occur in the country. In this regard, a number of criminal cases were opened against more than 20 people. OVD-Info talked about the fate of those involved in the cases.