Anti-war politician and Kremlin critic Boris Nadezhdin flees Russia for France

Russian anti-war politician Boris Nadezhdin – who was recently detained outside Moscow and blocked from running for parliament – said Monday he had left the country, in a video posted from Paris.

Nadezhdin, 63, a ⁠former liberal lawmaker, was one of the few politicians who openly criticised President Vladimir Putin and Moscow's Ukraine offensive to have stayed in the country.

Almost all of Putin's critics are in jail, in exile or dead.

Nadezhdin had been seeking to stand in tightly controlled parliamentary elections in September.

As his campaign ramped up last month, authorities labelled him a "foreign agent", briefly detained him, then fined him 1,000 rubles ($13) for displaying "extremist symbols" in a dramatic hearing that saw paramedics called as his blood pressure spiked.

Amid the pressure – which would technically have barred him from standing – he announced he was quitting his campaign, saying he had been "silenced" and "pushed out of politics".

On Monday he posted a video on his Telegram channel, with the Eiffel Tower seen in the background.

"I have some good news: I'm alive and free. Unfortunately, not in Russia," Nadezhdin said.

"For now, I need to get my bearings and figure out how to move forward. I'll write about my plans later," he said.

Nadezhdin had been campaigning to become an MP in the town of Dolgoprudny outside Moscow.

He told AFP last month that authorities had targeted him because they were "nervous" of his popularity.

The former municipal councillor attempted to run for president in 2024 against Putin, gathering tens of thousands of signatures of support before being barred from the vote.

Russia has launched a major clampdown on dissent since launching its 2022 Ukraine offensive.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)