Russian pro-war blogger Ilya Remeslo locked up in a psych ward after criticizing Putin

Pro-Kremlin blogger and lawyer Ilya Remeslo, known for his crusade against the Russian opposition in general and for filing complaints against Alexei Navalny in particular, has been hospitalized in a psychiatric facility. St. Petersburg-based news outlet Fontanka reports that the information desk at Skvortsov-Stepanov Psychiatric Hospital No. 3 confirmed having a patient with Remeslo’s name.

The Insider found that Ilya Borisovich Remeslo was indeed admitted to Skvortsov-Stepanov Psychiatric Hospital No. 3 on the morning of March 19. The circumstances of his hospitalization and his diagnosis remain unknown. The St. Petersburg patient presently has no contact with the outside world.

Earlier today, Remeslo’s hospitalization was also reported by former “Novorossiya parliament speaker” Oleg Tsaryov and Russian pro-war blogger Alexander Kartavykh.

The development follows from a series of posts Remeslo published to his Telegram channel on March 18, criticizing the Russian leadership and Vladimir Putin personally, characterizing him as a war criminal who should be put on trial and calling him a coward for hiding his children.

In a bullet-point manifesto titled “Five Reasons Why I Stopped Supporting Vladimir Putin,” Remeslo sharply criticizes the invasion of Ukraine as a “dead-end war” that is being waged at the nation’s expense “solely to help Putin deal with his psychological complexes.” He also touches upon the poorly managed zoonotic disease crisis in Novosibirsk Region, writing that, “The authorities have lost their minds to the point of seizing people’s domestic animals.”

The blogger accused Putin of lying about internet censorship plans and expressed his outrage at the blockade of Telegram, “which is being used by the special military operation participants themselves.”

Finally, Remeslo raised the topic of Putin’s never-ending presidency and the lack of respect he shows for his voters during phone-in sessions, concluding that “even a morally impeccable individual would go crooked under the circumstances.”

“Vladimir Putin is not a legitimate president. Vladimir Putin must resign and be brought to trial as a war criminal and a thief,” Remeslo summed up, adding a generic call to freedom at the end of the document.

Shortly after his post was published, Remeslo stated that he was at home in St. Petersburg and did not plan to leave Russia. Before the reported hospitalization, he managed to give an interview to independent Russian journalist Alexander Plushchev.