An exiled dissident’s wife returned to Russia for a visit. She’s now serving 10 days in jail — over a locked phone.

Elena Morgunova, the wife of Russian performance artist Pavel Krisevich, was detained and sentenced to 10 days of administrative arrest for disobeying police orders, the projects “Zona Svobody” and “Slovo Zashchite” said, citing those close to her.

Police detained Morgunova in Skopin, a town in Russia’s Ryazan region, on August 28. According to “Slovo Zashchite,” she had returned to Russia temporarily from France, where she and her husband have lived since leaving the country in December 2025.

Morgunova was riding a bus with her mother when police stopped it, ostensibly to check documents. According to “Slovo Zashchite,” the officers took an interest only in the two of them. After questioning Morgunova about her time in France, they sent her to court, charging her with disobeying police for refusing to unlock her phone.

Pavel Krisevich was sentenced in 2022 to five years in a penal colony over a June 2021 performance on Red Square, during which he delivered a manifesto denouncing the police state and fired two shots into the air. He was released in January 2025, and by the end of that year he had left Russia with his wife following two consecutive administrative arrests.

Former Pussy Riot activist Rita Flores said on August 24, 2026, that officers of Russia’s Federal Security Service had recruited her in early 2023. She said she agreed to cooperate with the FSB and gather information on contemporary artists, including Krisevich, with whom she was friends.