Court arrests blogger Dmitry Ivanov* in absentia

A court in Moscow has arrested in absentia Dmitry Ivanov*, a blogger, accused of spreading fakes about the Russian Army. The blogger covered events in Southern Russia on his YouTube channel, the "OVD Info"* project has informed.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 8, 2022, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) put Dmitry Ivanov* on the wanted list.

He is accused of spreading fake news about Russian militaries in the video about an airstrike on a Drama Theatre in Mariupol and statements about Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).

Let us recall that Dmitry Ivanov* has repeatedly commented on events in Southern Russia and in the republics of Northern Caucasus. In particular, on December 23, 2019, Eric Kituashvili, a blogger, said that he had met Adam Delimkhanov, a State Duma MP from Chechnya, and after that solved his problems that he had because of extortionists who called themselves "Kadyrov people". Ivanov* then stated that he did not believe that Kituashvili was threatened by "Kadyrov people", and doubted that Kituashvili was really threatened. He suggested that this story is Kituashvili's attempt to advertise himself in social networks.

In March 2019, Ivanov* called on Khabib Nurmagomedov, a MMA (mixed martial arts) fighter, to stop attacking the actors for showing a sex scene in the play "A Hunt for Men". Earlier, this play was staged in Dagestan.

After calling on Nurmagomedov, Ivanov* received anonymous threats. He parodied the apology, ridiculed Khabib himself and "moral fighters" in general for their indifference to real problems of Dagestan.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.