Russian police detain Transparency International's Siberia director

Police in Barnaul detained the director of Transparency International’s Siberian center this week. Stanislav Andreichuk wrote on Facebook that he’s accused of participating in an unsanctioned public demonstration on April 8.

A spokesperson for Transparency International Russia told Meduza that Andreichuk believes the charges are connected to elections in the Altai region that will take place this September.

On July 18, Andreichuk authored an article about a state-funded local newspaper publishing favorable coverage of candidates from the country’s ruling political party, United Russia. The newspaper Vechernii Barnaul has published detailed stories about 39 of the 40 candidates running for the city council.

Most of them got complete puff pieces, and there were only a few cases where there were interviews or mentions of two or three candidates in a single story.

On April 8, police in Barnaul detained several activists who displayed banners and chanted slogans against corruption at a protest against terrorism. The anti-corruption demonstrators came to the rally after local authorities refused to issue them a permit for their own protest.