Week-ending 26 November 2021

On 23 November 2021 Evgeny Smirnov, a lawyer who worked on the defence team of journalist Ivan Safronov, who is remanded in custody on charges of treason, said that he had fled Russia. Smirnov, who is now in Georgia, is the second defence lawyer working on the Safronov case to have left the country, following the departure of Ivan Pavlov. RFE/RL reported that Smirnov told The Insider investigative website that the FSB had initiated an internal disciplinary investigation against him.
Source:
RFE/RL, 24 November 2021: A second lawyer for jailed Russian journalist Ivan Safronov, who is charged with high treason, has fled the country. Yevgeny Smirnov told The Insider investigative group on November 23 that he is now in Georgia, adding that he had decided to leave Russia after an internal disciplinary investigation had been initiated against him by the Federal Security Service (FSB).