Alexei Frolov

Affiliated media: Novaya Gazeta - Ryazan, Editor-in-chief

Incident date: May 28, 2025

Attack type:

• House arrest

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: Mediazona

Location: Russia, Ryazan oblast, Ryazan

Additional information:

Alexei Frolov, editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta - Ryazan, was transferred from a pre-trial detention center to house arrest. The second defendant in the case, Konstantin Smirnov, editor-in-chief of the local publication Vid Sboku, was left in custody. Both journalists are accused of extortion by a group of individuals acting in collusion on a large scale (clauses “a” and “d” of part 2 of Article 163 of the Criminal Code). Natalia Smolyaninova, an employee of the Krai Ryazansky television channel, is also charged in the case and has been placed under house arrest. According to the investigation, the journalists extorted 1.2 million rubles from Alexei Rogotovsky, the acting head of the Ryazan Capital Repair Fund, promising to stop publishing negative articles about the official in exchange for the money.