The creator of the propaganda publication Readovka has had his arrest extended in the case of fraud with money for drones

The Tverskoy District Court of Moscow extended the arrest of Alexei Kostylev, the founder of the propaganda publication Readovka , until July 19. This was reported by a Mediazona correspondent from the courtroom.

The decision was made by judge Olga Semina. Kostylev asked to be released under house arrest: among the documents, he presented gratitude from the chairman of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, and the military, as well as a character reference from a priest who showed that the accused was a churchgoer.

The propagandist is accused of fraud on an especially large scale (part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code). At the arrest hearing in February, it became known that he was charged with the theft of a billion rubles allocated for drones. He does not admit guilt.

“Caution, news” wrote that former Readovka employees Yaroslav Vorobyov and Igor Chekanov gave evidence against him. Also among the witnesses is Anastasia Kalashnikova - a person with that name was mentioned as the financial director of Kostylev’s company. At the same time, Readovka itself previously insisted that the criminal case against the founder of the publication is not related to the company.

The defense also pointed to Kostylev’s health problems. When a medical certificate from the pre-trial detention center was presented, the accused exclaimed: “But they don’t have a normal doctor, they don’t have a qualified neurologist!”

The document states that there are no obstacles to keeping Kostylev in a pre-trial detention center. He himself added that all the doctors refer him to a neurologist, but he only “promised to write something down there.”

According to him, he stopped seeing in one eye, and his vision in the other one deteriorated.

“And the prospect of deteriorating health due to detention does not make me happy, so to speak,” the propagandist added.

Trying to convince the court to release Kostylev from the pre-trial detention center, the defense announced that they had specially rented an apartment next to the investigators’ office for house arrest.

Alexey Kostylev is known as the founder of the Smolensk publication Readovka, which after several years of its activity began to actively support the policies of Vladimir Putin. In 2024, he was in a car accident and spent several days in a coma, and the following year the publication changed hands and Kostylev went to work for the propaganda television channel RT.

Kostylev’s lawyer and wife asked not to send him to a pre-trial detention center, pointing to the health problems of the propagandist. His lawyer also emphasized: a criminal case was initiated back in 2025 against unidentified persons, and Kostylev responded to calls from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

He clarified that he was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 2nd degree.