Konstantin Tolkachev

Affiliated media: Simbirsk.city, Founder

Incident date: December 28, 2022

Attack type:

Confiscation/seizure of property, vehicles, equipment, documents

Who attacked: Authorities

Location: Russia, Ulyanovsk Oblast, Ulyanovsk

Additional information:

In Ulyanovsk, the law enforcers searched the flat of one of the founders of the Simbirsk.city news agency Konstantin Tolkachev and of blogger Oleg Sofyin, who was mentioned in one of the media’s articles. Tolkachev’s equipment was confiscated and he was taken to the Ulyanovsk police department, where it turned out that he was a witness in two criminal cases of libel. The first case was initiated on the demand of a woman and a man with the surname Yegorov, the second applicant being the Minister of Physical Culture and Sport of the Ulyanovsk Region Ramil Yegorov. The initiator of the second case is Vyacheslav Barynin, head of the regional governor’s administration. Both cases relate to publications on the Telegram channel Kompromat Ulyanovsk. Special forces in masks and with assault rifles broke into Sofyin’s home. His phone was taken from him, and a second search was also conducted in the case of defamation against Yegorov. In November, his flat had already been searched for libel.