The Moscow Prosecutor's Office announced the approval of an indictment in the case of blogger Ilya Varlamov, according to which he is charged with two articles — evasion of 'foreign agent' duties and dissemination of military 'fakes'. This was reported by the Moscow Prosecutor's Office. As specified by the agency, the case materials are planned to be sent to the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow. The blogger himself was previously put on the wanted list and arrested in absentia.
According to the investigation, Varlamov was twice held administratively liable during the year for violating the order of 'foreign agent' activities, but in violation of legal requirements, he continued to distribute materials without indicating his status. In addition, the blogger, 'being outside the Russian Federation, acting out of political hatred', posted a video with 'deliberately false information' about the armed forces of the Russian Federation on one of the video hosting platforms.
The Ministry of Justice included Varlamov in the register of 'foreign agents' in March 2023. The agency explained this decision by stating that the blogger distributed materials of other 'foreign agents', criticized the Russian authorities, and opposed the war in Ukraine. In February of this year, it became known that Varlamov's accounts in Russia were arrested.
The day before, it became known about the initiation of a criminal case against Yuri Dud*, who was also accused of evading 'foreign agent' duties.
* Recognized as 'foreign agents' in Russia.