Russian ski champion arrested for picture of anti-war movement flag

Zimirev was arrested on 22 February for posting a picture from a June protest in the Georgian capital Tbilisi to mark opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s birthday in which a person can be seen holding a white-blue-white flag.

The white-blue-white flag, which replaces the red stripe in the Russian national flag with a white one, has been used by Russian anti-war protesters since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Zimirev, who is now retired and works as a coach in Sochi, was initially detained on 17 February for laying flowers at a makeshift memorial to Navalny, whose death had been reported the day before, but he was released later the same day without charge.