Gleb Kalinychev and Evgeny Molotov are political prisoners

They have been remanded in custody on charges of financing extremism for donating to Aleksei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation

The ‘Political Prisoners. Memorial’ human rights project, in accordance with international standards, considers Gleb Kalinychev and Evgeny Molotov political prisoners. The project also considers Aleksei Konovalov, Sergei Shiryaev, Andrei Zayakin, Andrei Zavoloka, Pyotr Kovalyov, Vyacheslav Gertsberg, Aleksei Kamkin, Andrei Novokreshchyonnykh, Ravil Iskaliev, Anton Kovrik, and  Ilya Startsev victims of unlawful politically motivated prosecutions. Their prosecutions violate the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of association and fair trial. We demand the release of all defendants prosecuted for donating to the Anti-Corruption Foundation and an end to all such prosecutions.

What are the charges relating to donations to the Anti-Corruption Foundation?

On 9 June 2021, the Moscow City Court declared three organisations led by Aleksei Navalny extremist: the Anti-Corruption Foundation, the Foundation for the Protection of Civil Rights, and Navalny’s Headquarters. On 4 August 2021, the ruling entered into force.

The next day, Navalny’s team asked its supporters to donate to support their work and suggested using the Stripe service. It later emerged that a technical error occurred on that day, as a result of which Russian banks were allegedly able to track the destination of the payments.

The first criminal charges for donating to the Anti-Corruption Foundation were brought a year later. In August 2022, Andrei Zayakin, a Novaya Gazeta journalist and co-founder of Dissernet, was detained on charges of financing extremism (Article 282.3, Part 1, of the Russian Criminal Code). Subsequently, other individuals faced the same charge, namely Sergei Shiryaev, Andrei Zavoloka and Pyotr Kovalyov from Moscow and Aleksei Konovalov from Magadan. Zayakin, Zavoloka and Kovalyov were able to leave Russia. In December 2022 and March 2023, Shiryaev and Konovalov were sentenced to large fines.

On 6 September 2023, there were further developments in cases related to the funding of the Anti-Corruption Foundation. Anton Kovrik from Omsk, Gleb Kalinychev from Nizhny Novgorod, and Ilya Startsev from Moscow were remanded in custody. Searches were also conducted of the homes of Andrei Novokreshchyonnykh from Krasnoyarsk, Vyacheslav Gertsberg from Syktyvkar, and Aleksei Kamkin from Irkutsk.

In January 2024, Evgeny Molotov was remanded in custody in Vologda, and the home of Ravil Iskaliev was searched in the Saratov region. Molotov was initially remanded in custody but in April, he was placed under house arrest.

Also in April, Kovrik and Startev were sentenced to fines and released from custody.

Kalinychev is still being held on remand and Molotov is under house arrest. We have no information about the other individuals.

Why do we consider Kalinychev and Molotov political prisoners?

The decision by the Moscow City Court to designate Aleksei Navalny’s associations ‘extremist’ was politically motivated and unlawful.

First, there was no evidence of extremist activities by these organisations. Administrative and criminal prosecutions of individual employees do not constitute such evidence.

Second, regular inspections of the organisations did not reveal extremism in their work. Despite this, the results of these inspections were admitted by the court as evidence of extremist activity.

We do not know whether those prosecuted for financing Navalny’s organisations actually made donations. However, such actions do not constitute a crime. The criminal prosecutions are based on the unlawful decision by the Moscow City Court and are politically motivated.

A detailed description of the prosecutions for donating to Aleksei Navalny’s organisations and our position are available on our website.

Recognition of an individual as a political prisoner does not imply the Political Prisoners. Memorial’ human right project agrees with, or approves, their views, statements, or actions.

How can you help?

You can write to the defendant at the following addresse:

In Russian: 603098, Нижний Новгород, пр. Гагарина, д. 26А, ФКУ СИЗО-1 ГУФСИН России по Нижегородской области, Калинычеву Глебу Владимировичу 1983 г. р.

In English: Gleb Vladimirovich Kalinychev (born 1983), Remand Prison No. 1, Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the Nizhny Novgorod region, 26A Gagarina Street, Nizhny Novgorod, 603098, Russia.

Please note that letters in languages other than Russian are highly unlikely to reach the recipient.

You can donate to support all political prisoners in Russia.