An Astrakhan resident was fined 70 rubles for proposing to separate Moscow from Russia.
In Astrakhan, a court fined a 48-year-old former police officer for an online comment that security officials deemed to contain calls for separatism. The man proposed separating the capital from the rest of the country in response to Valentina Matviyenko's initiative to restrict non-resident students' access to Moscow universities. This precedent is unique: usually, this article is used to prosecute residents of ethnic republics, not those who propose isolating Moscow itself.
Political commentary by a former police officer
An Astrakhan resident was tried on charges of allegedly "publicly calling for actions aimed at violating the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation." The case was brought against him based on a comment he left under a news post on an opposition channel.
"Muscovy needs to be separated from Russia," said an Astrakhan resident in March 2025.
The man responded with this harsh remark to a controversial statement by Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko. The speaker publicly stated that the government should artificially curtail the large-scale enrollment of students from other regions and cities at prestigious universities in Moscow and St. Petersburg, so that they would remain in their local universities.
A trial without an accused and the specifics of the article on separatism
A year after the comment was published, it was discovered by local law enforcement. The defendant himself failed to appear at the court hearing and refused to officially explain or justify the meaning of his statement. The court found him guilty and fined him 70 rubles.
Human rights activists note that this case stands out from the general pattern of repression. In Russia, it is mostly indigenous residents of national republics who declare independence for their regions who are prosecuted under the article on "calls to separatism," not those who, ironically or seriously, advocate Moscow's separation from the rest of the country.
Context: How fines are imposed in other regions
Similar cases for expressing opinions on the status of regions regularly appear in courts across the country. Previously, former Yakutia deputy Alexander Ivanov was fined 90 rubles under the law on "calls to violate territorial integrity."
The Yakut politician's prosecution stemmed from a video he recorded during a trip to Kazakhstan. In the video, Ivanov openly expressed envy for the Kazakh people's state independence and free will, noting that the indigenous Sakha people within Russia are effectively prohibited from fully studying their own language and history, or from independently managing their ancestral lands.
