Ilya Remeslo, a blogger charged with spreading 'fakes' about the Russian military, has been transferred from a Moscow pretrial detention center to the Serbsky National Medical Research Center for Psychiatry and Narcology. The news agency TASS reported this on July 27, citing a source 'close to medical circles.' Remeslo's lawyer, Sergei Badamshin, confirmed the transfer but did not disclose the reason or duration.
On July 26, Badamshin posted a photo of himself outside the institute on Telegram, writing that he 'had to come by.' According to the lawyer, the person delivering a package to Remeslo had their passport confiscated for an hour and a half; it was returned only after Badamshin threatened to call the police.
Earlier, on July 24, Badamshin said that an appeal hearing on Remeslo's arrest was scheduled for August 12.
Remeslo, known for years of campaigning against Alexei Navalny, built his reputation on that opposition. In March 2026, he published a series of posts on his Telegram channel sharply criticizing Vladimir Putin and demanding his resignation. Days later, he was sent to a psychiatric hospital for 30 days.
In mid-July, Remeslo was detained on charges of spreading 'fakes' about the Russian military (Part 2 of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code). According to sources cited by RBC, the charges stemmed from his Telegram posts. On July 17, Moscow's Basmanny District Court ordered him held in pretrial detention.
As Novaya Gazeta Europe notes, the reason for the psychiatric evaluation may be a diagnosis Remeslo received at Ward 20 of the Skvortsov-Stepanov Psychiatric Hospital. Remeslo has not disclosed details of his condition. Under Article 196, paragraph 3 of the Criminal Procedure Code, a defendant may be sent for forensic psychiatric examination if investigators question their sanity.
In late April, Remeslo gave an interview to Ksenia Sobchak in which he again criticized Putin, calling him 'the main cause of all problems in our country.' He also said that 'Putinism as a phenomenon' must be fought and predicted a 'quiet palace coup' that, in his view, could be led by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.