Moscow/The Russian artist Andréi Akuzin has committed suicide while he was in preventive detention, reported the opposition portal Mediazona, and his relatives attribute it to the fact that it was a form of protest against the Government of Vladimir Putin.
Akuzin, 53, hanged himself in preventive prison, where he remained after being arrested for a comment he left on social networks in 2025. “He is not a terrorist, that is ridiculous. He simply did not want to remain silent. He was arrested for liking or responding to a publication,” said Tatiana Frólova, a friend of his.
According to the portal Midzonea Telegram bot that crawls the network indicated that Akuzin was sympathetic to the Artpodgotovka movement, banned in Russia. Frólova reported that Akuzin committed suicide in his cell on April 8, a day after his birthday, and two days later he was included on the list of terrorists and extremists.
“The only free protest today is suicide,” was one of the last messages that Frólova received from Akuzin, which is why she considers that her friend’s death was a vindication against current Russian politics.
In the artist’s social networks it can be seen that he did not promote active opposition there, despite a publication on Instagram in which he recorded a band playing a military march in his native region of Amur, in the Russian Far East, where the caption read “no to war.”
“We support him and believe that he is a strong politician, but there are many things that you don’t know and that is why I am recording this video”
For her part, the popular Russian blogger Victoria Bonya, who lives abroad, addressed President Putin through a video on her social networks in which she assures that the people and the governors fear him and do not tell him the whole truth.
Bonya assured that she records the message “on behalf of the people” who have not asked her to do so, but she feels she has to do it because she loves her country very much.
The influencerwho has nearly thirteen million followers on Instagram, stated that bloggers, artists and governors fear Putin. “But you are the president of our country and I think we should not be afraid,” he said.
According to Bonya, between Putin and the people there is a wall that must be torn down. “We support him and believe that he is a strong politician, but there are many things that you don’t know and that is why I am recording this video,” he added.
He also listed the five main problems that, in his opinion, the head of the Kremlin should be aware of.
These problems include the situation surrounding the recent floods in the republic of Dagestan, work on the liquidation of fuel slicks on the Russian Black Sea coast, rules around hunting endangered animals, the slaughter of animals in the Novosibirsk region due to a health emergency, and internet blockages.
In less than 24 hours, Bonya’s message to Putin received more than 630,000 I like.
