Journalist Alexander Nevzorov has been arrested in absentia in Russia

The Primorsky District Court of St. Petersburg ordered, in absentia, that journalist Alexander Nevzorov be placed under arrest as a preventive measure. He is accused of financing extremism and failing to fulfill his obligations as a “foreign agent.”

Nevzorov was ordered to be held in custody for two months from the moment of his extradition to Russia or his arrest within the country.

The case against the columnist and his wife, Lydia, regarding the financing of extremism was opened in May 2025 due to their collection of donations for themselves. According to investigators, the Nevzorovs, having been designated an “extremist organization,” posted “links to raise funds to achieve the organization’s goals” on their social media accounts.

After the Nevzorov family was declared an “extremist organization” in 2024, the court confiscated their land plots, house, and other property for the state.

In February 2025, the court also confiscated the apartment of Nevzorov’s mother-in-law, Natalia Kolesnikova.

In April 2022, the Ministry of Justice declared Nevzorov a “foreign agent.”

In 2023, Nevzorov was sentenced in absentia to eight years in a penal colony in a case involving military “fake news”—due to texts and videos about crimes committed by Russian troops in Mariupol and Bucha.

This was reported by Russian propaganda media outlets.

Dud’s controversial interview with Nevzorov sparked a fierce reaction in Ukraine.

Nevzorov explained why he applied for Ukrainian citizenship.