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‘Politically motivated and contrary to common sense’. Journalists and activists across Russia face raids and interrogations after FSB charges ex-media manager Pavel Andreev with treason
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On Tuesday, FSB agents in Russia’s northeastern Komi Republic announced the launch of a high treason case against Pavel Andreev. Andreev, the former CEO of 7x7, a media outlet focused on Russia’s regions, is also the founder of the Revolt Center, a cultural space in Komi’s capital city, Syktyvkar. In a press release, the FSB stated that the investigation spanned 12 Russian regions, but did not specify which regions. However, raids and interrogations related to the case were reported in different parts of the country on Tuesday and Wednesday.
According to Novaya Gazeta, Andreev himself is outside of Russia.
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The human rights group Memorial reported that on Tuesday, security forces in Syktyvkar raided both the Revolt Center and the homes of its employees. Local rights activist Igor Sazhin was also taken in for questioning as a witness after his home was searched.
On Wednesday, Revolt Center CEO Daria Chernysheva was arrested on suspicion of “evading the obligations of a foreign agent” — a felony offense.
Also on Tuesday, FSB agents in Kaliningrad took local journalist Ekaterina Tkacheva in for questioning following a raid on her home. According to SOTAvision, a publication where Tkacheva worked, she was presented with an order from the Syktyvkar City Court, which stated that she “may have information about the Revolt Center.”
Meanwhile, FSB agents in Petrozavodsk, the capital of the northwestern Republic of Karelia, took journalist Valery Potashov in for questioning following searches of his apartment and dacha. According to Potashov, who said he was released after refusing to testify, the raids were related to his journalistic work.
Potashov said a Petrozavodsk military court issued the search warrant for his dacha on suspicion of his association with an illegal “undesirable organization” (namely, the independent news outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe). Meanwhile, the search warrant for his apartment was issued by the Syktyvkar City Court in connection with “a criminal case launched against civic activists and journalists from the Komi Republic.”
Several other activists were also subjected to searches and interrogations on Tuesday. However, it’s unclear whether these were all related to the Revolt Center case. This includes Irkutsk-based human rights activist Svyatoslav Khromenkov; prisoners’ rights activists Irina Portasova and Olga Vasilyeva in Yoshkar-Ola, the capital of Mari El; and local Yabloka party member Alexey Sabelsky in Veliky Novgorod.
According to the rights group Public Verdict, Khromenkov is actually considered a witness in a case against the management of a law firm where he formerly worked. At the same time, Public Verdict also reported the arrests of six journalists in Yoshkar-Ola who work or have worked with 7x7.
Everyone taken in for questioning on Tuesday was later released.
Founded by Pavel Andreev in 2019, the Revolt Center was named after Russian mathematician and dissident Revolt Pimenov, the founder of Memorial’s Syktyvkar branch. Like 7x7, the cultural center was based on the “horizontal Russia” principle — an approach that focuses attention on the regions rather than the capital, as opposed to the majority of media and cultural institutions in Russia, which are often perceived as “Moscow-centric.” Andreev left 7x7 in 2022.
In its press release, the FSB’s Komi branch accused Andreev of a variety of espionage and subversion activities. The agency claimed that in exchange for monetary compensation, he cooperated with foreign intelligence services, maintained “covert contacts” with representatives of NATO countries and cover organizations, and carried out tasks that posed a threat to the security, territorial integrity, and constitutional order of the Russian Federation.
In a statement published on Wednesday, 7x7 expressed support for “all the victims of this criminal case,” denouncing the raids and interrogations as an attempt at intimidation. The media outlet also condemned the repressions against the Revolt Center’s staff as “politically motivated and contrary to common sense.”
“The paths of Pavel Andreev and 7x7 diverged in 2022, but our values remained common. We believe that no one can drown out the voice of reason [or] the voice of love for the Russian regions,” the statement said.
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