Remeslo, The Z-blogger Who Called Putin A War Criminal, Was Found To Be Of Sound Mind

• 27.08.2026, 15:35

His attorney reported this.

Experts at the Serbsky Institute found no evidence of mental illness in z-blogger Ilya Remeslo, who is accused of spreading military “fake news.” This was reported by his attorney Sergey Badamshin. “Remeslo is of sound mind; he has not suffered and does not suffer from any mental illness—these are the findings of the expert evaluation,” he wrote. The day before, the Moscow City Court ordered Remeslo to remain in custody until September 16. If convicted, the blogger faces up to 10 years in prison.

In March 2026, Remeslo—known as a supporter of the authorities and an informer on opposition figures—unexpectedly published a series of posts on his Telegram channel sharply criticizing Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine. He called the Russian president a “war criminal and a thief” who should be brought to trial. Shortly thereafter, Remeslo was placed in a psychiatric hospital, where he spent a month. According to the “Slovo Zashchite” project, the posts were published after the blogger learned that a pre-investigative review had been launched against him.

In late April, Remeslo gave an interview to Ksenia Sobchak, in which he once again criticized Putin. He called Putin “the main cause of all the problems in our country,” lamenting that “practically everyone” is afraid to speak out about it. At the same time, Remeslo called for a fight against “Putinism” and demanded to be referred to as “the leader of Russia’s opposition movement.”

Remeslo is 42 years old. He gained notoriety long before the war in Ukraine for his feud with opposition figure Alexei Navalny. For example, it was based on his tip-off that a criminal case was opened against the politician for fraud involving donations to the 2017 presidential campaign.