Journalist from Mari El arrested over discussion of First Chechen War in online chat

Aleksei Seryogin, an independent journalist from Yoshkar-Ola, was remanded in custody on 5 June. He faces charges of justification of terrorism under Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Russian Criminal Code. The case was reported by 7×7.

Seryogin was detained on the street on 4 June and taken to his flat in handcuffs for a search. The Insider reported that he had a head injury.

The case concerns comments the journalist made in a Telegram chat called ‘Sapozhnik Chat’ in 2024, in which he discussed the activities of Dzhokhar Dudayev.

‘We reviewed a number of comments that Seryogin posted under his own name in the chat in September 2024. In them, he placed full responsibility for the armed conflict in Chechnya on Boris Yeltsin, accusing him of anti-democratic conduct and disregard for the interests of the Russian population of Chechnya, among others. He also argued that Dudayev had been willing to negotiate before hostilities began. In addition, Seryogin referred to the 1995 terrorist attack in Budyonnovsk as a means of pressure on Russia by Chechen separatists, but did not endorse it,’ the SOVA Research Centre wrote.

Aleksei Seryogin runs the Telegram channel ‘Nothing Will Happen in Mari El’, in which he publishes local news and copies of obituaries for residents of the republic killed in the war against Ukraine. He was designated a ‘foreign agent’ in 2024. He has faced sustained pressure over many years: his home was searched in 2019 and again in 2025; in 2023, an unknown individual threatened him by phone with the fabrication of a criminal case. He has been subjected to administrative proceedings on multiple occasions under politically motivated charges, including violations of ‘foreign agent’ legislation and participation in the activities of an undesirable organisation.