Political scientist Aleksandr Kynev remanded in custody on charges of drug trafficking, denies guilt

Political scientist Aleksandr Kynev has been remanded in custody on a charge of illegal production, sale or dispatch of drugs on a large scale (Article 228.1, Part 4(d) of the Russian Criminal Code). Mediazona first drew attention to the case listing on the website of the Perovo District Court in Moscow.

Aleksandr Kynev’s lawyer, Mikhail Biryukov, confirmed the arrest. He told SOTAvision that Kynev was detained on 24 September and denies the charge.

Aleksandr Kynev specialises in the organisation of political power in Russia’s regions and is an expert on Russian elections. ‘From 2006 to 2012 he headed the analytical department of the Golos election-monitoring association, and until 2019 he taught at the Faculty of Applied Political Science at the Higher School of Economics. In 2024 his books Parties and Elections in Russia, 2008–2022: The History of Decline and Who Governs Russia’s Regions, and How were published,’ SOTAvision writes. In early 2026 he was designated a ‘foreign agent’.