Russia places Novaya Gazeta Europe journalist Ilya Azar on wanted list

Russia’s Interior Ministry has put Ilya Azar, a Novaya Gazeta Europe special correspondent and former municipal deputy, on its wanted list, Azar confirmed on Thursday.

The move is likely linked to a case against the Deputies of Peaceful Russia, an association of anti-war municipal and regional deputies, which the Interior Ministry declared an “undesirable organisation” in 2024 for supporting “extremists” and disseminating “inaccurate information” about the Russian government’s activities.

In mid-April, after opening a criminal case against a group of former local politicians tied to the Peaceful Russia movement, Russian law enforcement searched the homes of Azar’s relatives living in Moscow, as well as those of former municipal deputies Igor Glek, Galina Filchenko and Nodari Khananashvil. Azar’s mother, Larisa Yarkina, was questioned and released, according to human rights group OVD-Info. Azar and Glek both live abroad.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, prosecutors have aggressively targeted exiled journalists, launching dozens of criminal cases and sentencing several high-profile figures to lengthy prison terms in absentia.

In mid-April, a Moscow court sentenced Novaya Gazeta Europe’s editor-in-chief, Kirill Martynov, to six years of prison in absentia for allegedly organizing the activities of an “undesirable” organisation.

Russia’s Prosecutor General declared Novaya Gazeta Europe “undesirable” on 28 June 2023 — a label that forces affected organisations to cease all operations inside the country and exposes anyone affiliated with them to criminal liability.