An arrest warrant has been issued for prominent opposition leader Maxim Katz

Russian Maxim Katz reaches millions with videos critical of the Kremlin. An arrest warrant has been issued for him. He is not indisputable.

A Russian court has issued an arrest warrant for prominent Russian opposition figure Maxim Katz. This was reported by the Russian news portal “Mediazona” and cited court documents of the Moscow District Court. Accordingly, the 38-year-old was charged with “false statements” against the Russian military.

Dissemination of information critical of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Russian forces was criminalized once it began. Katz was already classified as a “foreign agent” last year and wanted by the Interior Ministry, after which he fled the country. Katz is not currently under threat of arrest, but if he returns home, jail time is possible.

Katz has been active in the anti-Russian movement for some time: in the past he stood in elections for the social democratic Yabloko party or worked for now-imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. Recently he has been active primarily on the video site YouTube, where he gained a large number of viewers, especially after the outbreak of war. Currently 1.7 million users subscribe to the channel.

However, Katz’s work has also been viewed critically: Gates tweeted about thisAfter arguing that Russians who had fled their homeland would not organize protests, the Russian opposition owed it to no one “especially Ukrainians”. Among others, the former US Ambassador to Russia, Michael McPaulHe accused Katz of doing nothing to stop Putin’s war.