Opposition politician Boris Nadezhdin announced on Monday that he has left Russia, posting a video recorded in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. “There is good news — I am alive and free,” he said in the video, published on his Telegram channel, adding that he would need to “take stock of the situation and understand how to live further.” His lawyer, Dmitry Trunin, confirmed to TASS that Nadezhdin had left the Russian Federation.

Nadezhdin’s departure follows a series of legal measures that effectively ended his political activities in Russia. On 10 July, the Ministry of Justice designated him a “foreign agent,” a status that prevents him from seeking public office. Three days later, he was accused of displaying extremist symbols because of a link to a video containing a photograph of Alexei Navalny. On 17 July, the Dolgoprudny City Court in the Moscow region fined him 1,000 rubles ($13) under Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences. Nadezhdin told the court he could not be fined because he had previously been declared bankrupt, and his lawyer Natalia Tikhonova said the defence would appeal the ruling. Shortly before the court hearing, Nadezhdin also reported that he had been banned from leaving Russia; his lawyers told him the ban was unlawful and he intended to challenge it.

Nadezhdin had attempted to run in the 2024 presidential election on a pro-peace platform. He collected over 100,000 signatures, but the Central Election Commission refused to register him, citing a high percentage of invalid signatures. In June, he launched a bid for the State Duma in September’s parliamentary elections, but the foreign agent designation and the extremism charge ended that campaign. On 19 July, Nadezhdin stated that “the opportunities to legally engage in opposition politics in Russia are exhausted,” and that he now faces the threat of imprisonment. In an interview with Meduza the previous month, he said he and his family were weighing whether to leave Russia.

Nadezhdin previously served as a State Duma deputy from 1999 to 2003, as an advisor to former Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, and as an assistant to former Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko, who is currently deputy first chief of staff in the Kremlin. He also served as a councilman in the Moscow region from 2019 to 2024. Nadezhdin has said he will provide updates on his future plans in emigration.