Russian authorities issue arrest warrant against actor Alexey Panin for posts celebrating Crimean bridge blast

Russia’s Interior Ministry has issued an arrest warrant against actor Alexey Panin, the independent outlet Verstka reported on Monday.

According to the ministry’s database, Panin is wanted in connection with a felony case.

In early May, the Russian state news outlet TASS reported that the country’s Investigative Committee had opened a felony case against Panin for “publicly justifying terrorism.”

According to TASS, the charges came in response to statements the actor made in which he “justified the terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge”; on the day of the explosion, Panin wrote on Telegram that he “cannot hide his joy” about the attack, among other things. Other outlets reported earlier this month that the Russian authorities had carried out a search of Panin’s registered place of residence in Moscow. According to the Telegram channel Baza, however, Panin has lived in Spain since 2020.

In 2015, a felony case was opened against Alexey Panin in Ukraine for “violating the country’s territorial integrity” after he spoke out in support of the Russian authorities’ actions following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea. Panin later publicly apologized to Ukrainians and said that Russia had initiated a “war that nobody needed.”