Activist and urban preservation campaigner Yaroslav Kostrov has been detained in St. Petersburg. He reported the detention himself on his Telegram channel.
According to Fontanka, Kostrov is being accused under the article on displaying extremist symbols. The outlet says the case is linked to his sharing of links to social networks banned in Russia. He has reportedly already been taken to a police station.
Who Kostrov is
Yaroslav Kostrov is known in St. Petersburg as a civic activist and defender of the city’s historical environment. He opposed the program of integrated territorial development, which envisaged the demolition of five-story residential buildings constructed in the 1950s through the 1970s.
Kostrov also founded the movement “Central District for a Comfortable Living Environment”. Its activists plant trees in the city center at their own expense, study the condition of architectural landmarks, monitor the preservation of historic windows during major building repairs, and push for the restoration of heritage sites.
Possible consequences
Kostrov had planned to run in elections to the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly from the A Just Russia party in a single-member district. Punishment under the article tied to “extremist” symbols carries a ban on running in elections for one year.
Earlier in St. Petersburg, Ivan Apostolevsky, head of the Communist Party faction in the Legislative Assembly of the Leningrad Region, and urban preservation activist Oleg Mukhin were arrested for 10 days on similar charges. They were also accused of displaying extremist symbols because of old posts containing links to Instagram and Facebook.