In 2010, he was involved with the Strategy-31 movement, which held civic protests without obtaining legal permission in support of the right to peaceful assembly, as a local organiser.

Eight days later, he was arrested and charged with having bribed a local police officer to illegally gain access to the government's voter database so that he could verify the signatures.

In August 2020, he and two other members of Open Russia were detained at the Russian border after attempting to travel to Belarus to act as observers in the 2020 Belarusian presidential election.

[5] In September 2020, he was arrested and sentenced to 14 days incarceration on charges of organising a public event without giving notice after having made a Facebook post in July that year calling for signatures on a petition opposing the amendments proposed in the 2020 Russian constitutional referendum.

[7] In April 2021, he was faced similar charges after Open Russia distrusted personal protective equipment to an ambulance station in Saint Petersburg.

[8][9] The European External Action Service condemned the arrest, saying that it was "not an isolated incident but confirms a continuous pattern of shrinking space for civil society, the opposition and critical voices as well as independent media.