Founder of political repression commemoration project leaves Russia after facing arrest, surveillance, and intimidation

Andrey Shalayev, the founder of Immortal Barracks, a Russian project commemorating the victims of political repression, has left Russia, the outlet Govorit NeMoskva reported on Thursday.

On October 19, Shalayev was detained at a train station in Tver, after which he went missing for several days. After his release on October 22, he announced that he was safe and would remain in Russia.

When he returned to Moscow, however, he soon realized that he was being followed. After seeing that the surveillance continued even when he traveled outside of the city, he decided to leave Russia.

“At the train station, when I left Russia, I was accompanied by activists from [the ultranationalist group] National Liberation Movement with St. George ribbons and Z signs, filming me on their phones,” Shalayev said. “They shouted that I was a ‘traitor’ and an ‘enemy of the people.”