Kuibyshevsky District Court of St. Petersburg arrested 24-year-old activist Ariadna Litvinova after her deportation from Turkey, the city's joint court press service reported.
Litvinova's father, Valery Kryzhanovsky, said the deportation was triggered by a violation of migration rules: her visa-free stay in Turkey had expired and she had not obtained a residence permit. According to the BBC Russian Service, Litvinova came to her father in September 2025 after a criminal case was opened against her in Russia. In May, a conflict between them led Kryzhanovsky and his new wife to call the police. He did not file a complaint against his daughter, but she was detained anyway — for lack of documents. Litvinova spent about a month in a deportation center. Her father said he learned of her deportation to Russia from the news.
The criminal case against Litvinova was opened after a February 24, 2025 action, when she painted the words "Murderers," "Peace to Ukraine," and "Freedom for political prisoners" on pro-war advertising banners near the Arch of the General Staff in St. Petersburg. She was initially fined 50,000 rubles under the article on "discrediting" the army and arrested on vandalism charges. In March, her restrictive measure was softened to a ban on certain actions, after which she left Russia. Later, the charge was reclassified to the criminal article on "discrediting" the army (Part 2 of Article 280.3 of the Russian Criminal Code).
According to a source from the project "Bumaga" familiar with Litvinova's case, the information about her arrest disseminated by the court press service on July 7 "is not new." The source said that as of the afternoon of July 7, the activist was still in Moscow. The Telegram channel "Prison Lawyer" reported that Litvinova was likely detained at Vnukovo Airport and then sent to St. Petersburg.
Human rights defenders call this the first known case of deportation of a defendant in a politically motivated criminal case from Turkey to Russia. In September 2025, the project "Kovcheg" reported an attempt at a similar deportation of a Russian citizen who was being persecuted for an online comment. In that case, the detainee managed to leave for a safe country.