Updated

Russian prosecutors are seeking an eight-year prison sentence for culinary historian Pavel Syutkin, arrested last October over Telegram posts about atrocities in Bucha. Separately, Maxim Petlin, head of the Yabloko party's Sverdlovsk branch, has left Russia, with his lawyer citing fears of prosecution, and Alexander Kondratov, the 52-year-old production designer of the Russian TV series 'Likvidatsiya,' who had been living in Kyiv, was arrested on treason charges after returning to Russia to renew his passport. In a related move, Russian authorities have banned Russians abroad who were convicted in absentia — including under 'discrediting the army,' 'foreign agent' or 'undesirable organization' statutes — from receiving any consular services, including passport renewals. The policy effectively forces such individuals to choose between returning to Russia to serve their sentences or living abroad without valid documentation, echoing tactics previously used by Belarus against its own diaspora.