Russian blogger who unexpectedly denounced Putin ‘has been put in psychiatric facility’
Ilya Remeslo made a career denouncing Putin’s critics until he became one himself
Lucy Papachristou Thursday 19 March 2026 13:44 GMT
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A pro-Kremlin figure who unexpectedly denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine in a social media post this week that went viral has been placed in a psychiatric facility, Russian media reported on Thursday.
Ilya Remeslo made a career denouncing Putin’s critics until he became one himself, posting a manifesto late on Tuesday to his 90,000 followers on Telegram entitled: “Five reasons why I stopped supporting Vladimir Putin.”
He said Putin had prosecuted a “failing war” in Ukraine that had killed millions and torpedoed Russia’s economy to the detriment of its citizens’ well-being.
“Vladimir Putin is not a legitimate president. Vladimir Putin must resign and be brought to trial as a war criminal and a thief,” Remeslo wrote in his post.
He went on to tell The Guardian on Wednesday: “Vladimir Putin should resign and be put on trial as a war criminal. His personalised, corrupt system is doomed to collapse, as we’re seeing now with the war in Ukraine and elsewhere.”
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On Thursday, St Petersburg’s Fontanka newspaper reported Remeslo had been hospitalised in the city’s Psychiatric Hospital No. 3. It said the hospital’s information desk confirmed a patient with Remeslo’s name and surname was available to receive packages.
Reuters was unable to immediately confirm Remeslo was in the facility. Fontanka did not specify the grounds on which he may have been admitted.
Meanwhile on Thursday, The Kremlin said that talks between Washington, Moscow and Kyiv on ending the war in Ukraine were on “situational pause” following the start of the Iran war.
U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to end the Ukraine war on his return to the White House but has said efforts to resolve the conflict have been one of his biggest disappointments.
The Izvestia newspaper said in a front-page story that the Kremlin had confirmed a pause in talks on Ukraine and that war in the Middle East could push Kyiv towards compromise.
“This is a situational pause, for obvious reasons,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about the Izvestia report.
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