Russian security services detained Larisa Mikhailova, an activist with the Agrarian Council, in Novosibirsk on the morning of August 13, her daughter said. The woman faces charges of inciting terrorist activity under Article 205.2 of the Russian Criminal Code, according to her lawyer.
FSB and OMON officers began cutting through the door of Mikhailova's apartment almost immediately after knocking, her daughter said. The search lasted three hours, after which Mikhailova was taken to a police department handling especially important cases. The specific grounds for opening the case have not been disclosed.
Mikhailova ran for the Novosibirsk city council in 2024 from a district in Akademgorodok but was denied registration. This year she became an activist with the Agrarian Council, an organization created by followers of Svetlana Lada-Rus, a healer and conspiracy theorist who was sentenced in absentia to eight years in a penal colony in Russia.
In the spring, the Agrarian Council covered the mass slaughter of cattle in the Novosibirsk region and farmers' protests. Mikhailova filed appeals to state bodies, met with officials, and called for the resignation of regional governor Andrei Travnikov. She filmed the video in which regional agriculture minister Andrei Shindelov runs away from farmer Svetlana Panina, who was demanding explanations about the seizure of cattle.
On the same day, the Investigative Committee reopened a probe into a separate case against Mikhailova over calls for activities against state security under Article 280.4 of the Criminal Code, which had been closed in 2025. The reason for reopening the case was not announced.
Mikhailova's associates suggest the new case is linked to her publication of a reworked version of the Internationale. Other followers of Lada-Rus are already being prosecuted for the same: Olga Archibasova in the Altai region, Aruna Arna in the Altai Republic, and Vasilya Vershinina in Kamchatka.
A court is expected to rule on a pretrial restriction for Mikhailova on August 13.