Memorial's Political Prisoners Support project announced on October 28 that it recognised Boris Todaev, the 66-year-old editor of the Elista newspaper Narn, as a political prisoner. The rights group considers the criminal prosecution of the journalist politically motivated.
Todaev is accused under Part 4 of Article 354.1 of Russia's Criminal Code, concerning the rehabilitation of Nazism. According to published information, the case stems from an article about the deportation of the Kalmyk people that appeared in December 2025. The journalist has been under house arrest since September 3.
The political-prisoner designation is an assessment by a human rights organisation, not a procedural status conferred by a court. Memorial links the prosecution to the historical article's content and the way the criminal provision has been applied. No verdict had been issued in the case at the time of the report.
In December 1943, Soviet authorities carried out the mass deportation of the Kalmyks. Todaev's article deals with the memory of that event; rights advocates identify its content as the basis of the criminal case against him.