Officers from the Center for Combating Extremism (Center 'E') have issued a formal warning to Communist Party State Duma candidate Alexander Safonov over a 'possible' abuse of media freedom, the politician said.
The document cites an article on abuse of media freedom as well as articles of the Administrative and Criminal Codes, Safonov said. He added that the officers wrote that they 'have information' that he 'possibly' violates the law, but declined to disclose which other articles are mentioned in the document.
Safonov called the incident pressure on him as a candidate from an opposition party who is running an active election campaign and raising questions uncomfortable for officials. He said that he and his comrades would not be intimidated.
A day earlier, on August 21, another Communist Party State Duma candidate, Nikolai Bondarenko, was detained in Saratov. A court fined him 1,000 rubles on a charge of displaying extremist symbols over a 2024 post featuring a photo of Alexei Navalny.