A Volgograd activist was detained near a monument to victims of repression.
Activist Vladimir Telpuk was detained with flowers at the "Departing to Heaven" monument to victims of political repression in Volgograd on the anniversary of the death of politician Alexei Navalny*. He spent about an hour in police custody and was released without charge.
As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," on February 16, a participant in a flower-laying event commemorating the anniversary of Alexei Navalny*'s death was held in a Volgograd police station for more than two hours. Andrei said that security forces released him without drawing up a report, without disclosing the reason for the detention.
On February 16, 2024, politician Alexei Navalny died in prison after, according to a statement from the Federal Penitentiary Service, his condition sharply worsened. Residents of Russian cities, including those in the south, have been persecuted for attempting to lay flowers in memory of Navalny at memorials to victims of political repression.
Vladimir Telpuk approached the "Departing to Heaven" monument to victims of political repression around 8:00 PM Moscow time on February 16. According to the activist, a strong wind was blowing and no one was at the monument, but as he approached the monument, he noticed a traffic police car parked nearby.
As Telpuk himself recounted, he initially approached the monument without flowers, and the police did not respond. Then the activist returned to his car, picked up a bouquet of flowers, and returned to the monument, where he laid the flowers on the pedestal and took several photographs.
At that moment, two police officers and three men in civilian clothes ran up to him. According to Telpuk, they demanded to see his documents.
“They told me I looked like the person they were looking for and that I should go with them to the station. At the 4th Police Station, they checked my documents and questioned me. They asked where I lived. I said in the Krasnoarmeysky District. They asked what I was doing in the Central District of the city. I gave a short answer,” Vladimir told a Caucasian Knot correspondent.
The activist questioned the validity of the check, noting that it was difficult for the police to see his face in the dark from a distance of more than 20 meters.
“Before the flower-laying, I approached the monument several times without flowers, and there was no reaction. Only after I approached the monument with flowers did the officers perk up and approach me. We arrived at the police station at around 8:20 p.m. Moscow time. They didn't draw up a report, and I was released about an hour later. I didn't see any other people laying flowers. The police officers were sitting in the car with their lights flashing, while the civilians were lying in wait," Vladimir Telpuk reported. On February 16, 2025, the first anniversary of Alexei Navalny's death, residents of Russian cities, as well as Yerevan and Tbilisi, honored his memory. In Volgograd, activists laid flowers at the monument to the victims of political repression in memory of Alexei Navalny that day, and several people were detained. Thus, Yabloko party member Alexander Efimov was arrested for 15 days for displaying a portrait of Navalny, and politician Ilya Kravchenko (listed as a foreign agent) received 14 days of administrative arrest for resisting arrest by security forces.
"Caucasian Knot" also reported that activist Vladimir Telpuk has repeatedly held solo pickets in central Volgograd. For example, on November 13, 2021, he demanded an end to torture in Russian prisons, and on December 11 of that year, he spoke out in defense of the dismissed director of the Volga-Akhtuba Poima Nature Park. In August 2023, Telpuk held a solo picket without posters, timed to coincide with the anniversary of Alexei Navalny's poisoning. In June 2024, security forces conducted a search of his home, citing an investigation into the case of the former coordinator of Navalny's supporters.
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* The Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) is included in the register of foreign agents, designated as extremist, and banned in Russia. The foundation's founder, Alexei Navalny, was added to the Rosfinmonitoring list of extremists and terrorists, and was sentenced to 19 years in prison for extremism. He died in prison in February 2024. Navalny is recognized as a "prisoner of conscience." The "Caucasian Knot" article "Navalny: The Caucasian Dimension" presents the opposition leader's views on issues related to the Caucasus.
The United Kingdom, Sweden, France, Germany, and the Netherlands are confident that Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a deadly toxin. On February 14, these countries issued a statement that tests confirmed the presence of epibatidine in Navalny's body - a toxin found in poisonous tree frogs in South America and not found naturally in Russia. "Russia claimed that Navalny died of natural causes. However, given the toxicity of epibatidine and the reported symptoms, poisoning was most likely the cause of his death. Navalny died in custody, which means that Russia had the means, motive, and opportunity to use this poison on him," the statement read.
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