Russia designates author Boris Akunin ‘terrorist and extremist’
Al Jazeera
The popular novelist has criticised Russia’s war on Ukraine and previously called Vladimir Putin a ‘deranged dictator’.
The Russian government has added the popular author Grigory Chkhartishvili – known by his pen name Boris Akunin – to a register of “terrorists and extremists” for his critical stance towards Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Rosfinmonitoring, Russia’s main financial intelligence body, announced that the detective novelist had been added to the registry on Monday.
The 67-year-old is known for his historical detective novels and his longstanding criticism of President Vladimir Putin.
“Terrorists declared me a terrorist,” Akunin, who lives in exile in London, wrote on Facebook.
Separately, Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had opened a case against the Russian-Georgian author for allegedly “justifying terrorism and publicly spreading fake information” about the military.
