Russian opposition politician Pivovarov has been sentenced to four years in prison. Until the spring of 2021, Pivovarov headed the Open Russia organization founded by Kremlin critic Khodorkovsky.

Opposition leader Andrei Pivovarov has been sentenced to four years in a prison camp in Russia. A court in Russia’s southern city of Krasnodar found a 40-year-old man guilty of running an “undesirable organisation”.

In addition, he was banned from all “socio-political activities” for eight years, as announced by his supporters on Twitter.

Pivovarov headed the Kremlin-critical organization “Open Russia” until the spring of 2021 – but was then declared an “undesirable organization” and thus effectively banned. Pivovarov then announced the dissolution of the group – on the grounds that it should protect its members from criminal prosecution.

Khodorkovsky’s organization

“Open Russia” was founded in 2014 by oligarch and Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky to bring the pro-European opposition in Russia under one roof. Khodorkovsky has been living abroad since being pardoned in 2013 after serving ten years in prison.

Pivovarov and other government critics have criticized the latest test as being politically motivated. The European Union has in the past called for the release of Pivovarov, who was arrested more than a year ago.

Pivorowa’s arrest at the end of May last year caused a stir, as he was caught trying to leave the country for Poland. At that time, police officers stopped a machine that was already operating at an airport in St. Petersburg.

Since the start of the military operation in Ukraine in February, Russian officials have intensified their crackdown on critics of the Kremlin. Many of them were imprisoned, others fled into exile.