State Duma candidate for Russia’s Green Party Yulia Kuznetsova disappears in Moscow

On the evening of September 17, Yulia Kuznetsova, a candidate for the Russian Green Party's State Duma, stopped answering her phone, according to the Slovo Zashchite project. Her last reported location was after a voter meeting in Sokolniki when she said she was getting into a taxi with her husband and was 15 minutes away from home.

Since then, Kuznetsova's whereabouts have been unknown, and her phone has been inactive. A source close to Kuznetsova's team suggested she may be detained at a Moscow police station in the Central Administrative district. Her husband's phone reportedly became active that morning, but they have been unable to contact him. Campaign staff believe her phone might have been hacked, or her husband may have been coerced into granting access.

It was reported that Kuznetsova's observers were removed from polling stations in the Bogorodskoye district of Moscow's election commission, which Kuznetsova herself claimed had withdrawn them. Prior to her disappearance, Kuznetsova alleged that a document with her signature had been forged. As a Green Party candidate, Kuznetsova opposes the war and is listed by Smart Voting as a recommended candidate.

She previously worked in Boris Nadezhdin's campaign staff and placed sixth in Moscow's 2024 City Duma election. Currently, Kuznetsova is running in Moscow's Babushkinsky single-mandate district No. 195 as a Green Party candidate in the State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament. At Meduza, we strive for transparency in our reporting methods.

This story was written by one of our journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model, which has been thoroughly tested and refined to ensure accuracy and timeliness. Each draft undergoes review by a Meduza editor before publication. Should you discover any errors in this translation, please contact us at reports@meduza.io.