Russian politician Boris Nadezhdin, who was added to the foreign agent registry on 10 July, has been barred from leaving the country and is due in court on 17 July on charges of displaying extremist symbols. The travel ban, which Nadezhdin said he received via the state services portal on 16 July, was imposed by the Federal Bailiff Service in connection with a previously suspended enforcement proceeding linked to his personal bankruptcy. The administrative case against him, brought under Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences, stems from a social media post containing a photograph of the late opposition figure Alexei Navalny. Separately, a report by the support portal “Guys+” describes a dramatic increase in blackmail and extortion targeting gay and transgender individuals in Russia, a trend its coordinators link directly to the Supreme Court’s November 2023 designation of the “international LGBT movement” as an extremist organisation.

Nadezhdin, a former State Duma deputy who mounted a high-profile anti-war presidential bid in 2024, is seeking to run as an independent candidate for the Duma in September. The foreign agent designation already disqualifies him from holding elected office under legislation adopted last year. A conviction under Article 20.3 would additionally bar him from standing for election for one year. Nadezhdin has described the legal actions as an attempt to block his candidacy and said he is considering leaving Russia if the threat of imprisonment grows, though he prefers to remain. His lawyer argues the travel ban is unlawful because the enforcement proceedings should be suspended during bankruptcy, a process that began after a creditor filed a claim over a debt of 77.4 million roubles linked to a 2011 election campaign.

According to Damir Musin, coordinator of services at “Guys+”, the number of blackmail cases against gay and transgender people has risen “tens of times” over the past three years, accelerating after the Supreme Court ruling. The portal receives at least one hundred requests for help annually from individuals threatened with exposure of their private lives to relatives, employers or colleagues. In one case detailed by the service, a university student was extorted for money after sharing intimate photographs via a Telegram dating bot; in another, a schoolteacher paid 50,000 roubles to prevent a blackmailer from informing his school administration. Musin also notes that law enforcement officers in regions such as Dagestan and Chechnya conduct raids on informal gay clubs, detaining people and coercing them into becoming informants. The blackmailers exploit the fear of social ostracism and potential legal repercussions under the extremist designation, which has created a climate where victims are reluctant to seek help from authorities.

Viewed from Western diplomatic circles, the simultaneous pressures on a political challenger and on a vulnerable social group illustrate a broader pattern of using legal and extralegal instruments to narrow the space for dissent and independent civic life. The foreign agent law, the extremist symbols charge and the travel ban are all mechanisms that, according to election monitors in Moscow, serve as a “candidate filtering” system ahead of the September parliamentary vote. The blackmail surge, human rights advocates note, is a direct consequence of state stigmatisation that emboldens criminal actors. Nadezhdin’s court hearing is scheduled for 17 July, and he has pledged to appeal the travel ban. His bankruptcy proceedings are set for a substantive hearing on 27 February 2025, while the Duma elections are expected to take place in September.