Russian police arrested Leonid Guzman, an opposition politician, after a criminal case was opened against him for failing to notify the authorities quickly enough of his Israeli citizenship
Mikhail Biryukov, the lawyer of the Russian-Jewish opposition politician Leonid Guzman, said that his client was arrested by the authorities on the grounds that he did not report his Israeli citizenship quickly enough. “At the entrance to the Fronzenskaya metro station, he was stopped by metro policemen,” he wrote on Facebook.
Guzmán was the last leader of the small political party “Union of Right Forces”, which worked for free market reform, Anatoly Chuveis, who left Russia, also worked for this, another politician who supported the reform, Boris Nemtsov, was shot dead in 2015, the agency reported Reuters news.
Since the February 24 invasion of Ukraine, political dissent has become more dangerous inside Russia. Protesters are routinely arrested and public criticism of the war risks prosecution. Guzmán has publicly claimed that President Vladimir Putin did more damage to Russia by invading Ukraine than any other Russian leader since Josef Stalin, and that post-Soviet Russia essentially died with the war.
Putin says what he calls his “special military operation” in Ukraine is “necessary” because the West has used Ukraine to threaten Russia, and that it had to protect Russian speakers from persecution.
Guzmán was officially labeled last month as what Russia calls a “foreign agent” — a person who receives money from or is under foreign influence. He was put on the federal wanted list, the Interior Ministry said. It is not clear why.
In his last public post on Telegram, Guzman wrote: “For those who want and can protest – be careful, remember that what was almost free yesterday – a small fine – can cost more today.”