Video of the detention, published by his lawyer Violetta Volkova, shows a man being forced to the ground and then driven away in a car.
The men who detained him did not identify themselves and wore no visible insignia, Volkova said. Neither his family nor his lawyer was told where Dolgikh was taken or what he is suspected of. Volkova said she does not know whether a court-appointed lawyer has been in contact with her.
Dolgikh is known in Kirov for lawsuits against state corporations and for criticism of local authorities, security services and the judicial system. He runs a YouTube channel with more than 1.5 million subscribers, where he posts recordings of court hearings and visits to police and prosecutors' offices. Some videos have drawn tens of millions of views.
In January 2025, Dolgikh filed a confession, saying he feared he could be framed because of his criticism of local authorities. In February he was placed in pre-trial detention in a petty bribery case: investigators allege he gave 4,500 rubles to the head of a post office. Abuse of office and incitement were later added to the charges.
In November 2025, a court sentenced the lawyer to one and a half years in a penal colony. The nine months he spent in pre-trial detention were counted at a rate of one day for two, so Dolgikh was released in the courtroom.