Fled to the U.S., Jailed in Russia

A court in Perm has arrested an opposition-leaning businessman who returned from the U.S. after being denied political asylum. The independent outlet Mediazona reported his story.

According to a Perm-based outlet Properm, Leonid Melekhin, who reportedly fled Russia for the United States via Mexico in 2024, spent 10 months in immigration detention centers before being deported in June 2025. Upon arrival in Russia, he was taken into custody.

Perm’s district court stated that Melekhin was placed under a pretrial detention order on charges of “justifying terrorism,” which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. His lawyer said Melekhin admitted his guilt and had “asked to return to Russia” after being denied asylum in the United States.

The attorney also claimed Melekhin was aware that a criminal case had been opened against him in Russia. “He understood what kind of measures might be taken,” said attorney Valery Kuznetsov. An anonymous source close to Melekhin told Mediazona that time in U.S. immigration detention had “broken him.”

However, Russian activist Yuri Bobrov disputed that narrative. Bobrov, who runs a Telegram channel focused on U.S. immigration, argued that Melekhin was forcibly deported and would not have returned to Russia voluntarily.

According to Bobrov, Melekhin flew to Mexico in late 2023 and used the CBP One mobile app to apply for asylum in the U.S. He waited more than six months for an interview and eventually crossed the border at Calexico, Mexico, on August 16, 2024.

He was initially held in San Diego before being transferred to an immigration detention facility in San Luis, famous for its inhumane detention conditions. Bobrov said Melekhin did not have a lawyer during his initial immigration hearing and lost his case.

“They transferred about 40 people there,” Bobrov recalled. “Eventually, we realized he needed to file an appeal with a lawyer’s help,” Bobrov said. Melekhin spoke with an attorney only once, and the final denial of asylum was issued on June 11. No hearing was held.

Bobrov described Melekhin as a “regular activist from Perm.” However, people close to Melekhin told Mediazona that he had not been deeply involved in political opposition and did not work with Alexei Navalny’s campaign team, contrary to some local media reports.

A relative said Melekhin had studied mechanical engineering, but left university to run a company that sold and manufactured road barriers operating across Russia and the CIS.

In June 2023, Melekhin was briefly detained during a solo protest for holding a “Free Navalny” sign, but was released after giving a statement.

On the day he crossed the U.S. border, Melekhin messaged Bobrov saying he had hung an anti-Putin banner on a bridge in Perm before leaving the country. A photo posted by Bobrov shows a sign reading: “Putin V.V. is a murderer, fascist, and usurper,” accompanied by Putin’s image and the famous Edmund Burke quote: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

That social media post was reportedly used as evidence in the criminal case against Melekhin, according to a source cited by Mediazona.

Melekhin's case is not the first. In January 2025, U.S. authorities deported 27-year-old activist Yevgeny Mashinin from Kovrov, Vladimir Oblast. Mashinin had been fined in 2022 for participating in an anti-war protest in Moscow and had received a €5000 ($5800) ruling from the European Court of Human Rights in 2023 for repeated detentions in Russia.

Mashinin spent more than a year in a Texas immigration detention before being deported in December 2024 via Qatar.

He told Mediazona he was met by police upon his arrival in Moscow, questioned aggressively, and had his phone confiscated. “My mistake was not deleting anything,” he said. He had previously been arrested four times and kept photos with a Ukrainian flag on his phone.

Mashinin was later fined R35,000 ($430) for “discrediting the Russian army” based on social media posts. He left Russia again in January 2025.

Mashinin says he remains in contact with other Russian detainees in U.S. immigration centers who are also facing deportation. “There are a lot of deportations happening,” he said. “One of my former cellmates has already lost his case. Another is still appealing but is on Russia’s federal wanted list. If he’s deported, he’ll be arrested too.”