September 05, 2024

Where Is the Foreign Agent?


Where Is the Foreign Agent?
Man showing politician Elvira Vikhareva's picture in a supermarket. Elvira Vikhareva, Facebook.

Moscow opposition politician Elvira Vikhareva recently announced on Facebook that strange men were stalking her, asking for information on her whereabouts in the supermarket near her house. Vikhareva is notorious for her opposition to the Kremlin and for pushing opposition figures to run in elections.

Vikhareva publicly opposed Russia's War on Ukraine since it began. As a result, in April 2022, someone attached a sign to her door that read, "She supports the Ukrainian Nazis." In April 2023, she was declared a foreign agent. Yet she still announced her intention to run for the Moscow Duma and invited others with her legal status to become candidates. Shortly after, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree that forbade foreign agents from standing for election.

On August 31, Vikhareva posted on Facebook security camera footage from a local supermarket of a blue-suited man showing her picture to the cashier and shoppers. According to the politician, the man asked people about "when I come, when I leave, how often they see me, and if they see me at all."

Vikhareva also reported that strange men call her neighbors via the building intercom, saying they have a package from France for the politician. She said she never ordered anything nor is she expecting anything. Vikhareva wrote, "The 'courier' hangs around the windows all day." Days earlier, the dissident received multiple messages offering free dog food if she met with the unknown person face to face.

In March 2023, SOTA reported that Vikhareva was poisoned with heavy metal salts. In December 2022 and February 2023, high levels of potassium dichromate, a highly carcinogenic substance, were found in her blood. Vikhareva's deteriorating health caused her to stop showing up in public, as the poisoning had affected her appearance.

In her latest Facebook post, Vikhareva wrote, "And I also remind you that I don't do drugs (...), I do not drink alcohol, I do not expect any 'guests'." She ended her message with, "If someone wants to ruin my life or the life of my loved ones, it will not go down quietly. I guarantee it."

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