Wife of exiled Russian dissident jailed for 10 days over locked phone during visit to Russia

Elena Morgunova, wife of Russian performance artist Pavel Krisevich, was detained by police on August 28 in Skopin, a town in Russia's Ryazan region. The projects "Zona Svobody" and "Slovo Zashchite" reported the arrest, citing people close to her.

According to "Slovo Zashchite," Morgunova had come back to Russia temporarily from France, where she and her husband have been living since leaving the country in December 2025.

She was traveling by bus with her mother when police pulled the vehicle over, officially to check passengers' documents. However, "Slovo Zashchite" noted that officers showed interest only in the two women. After questioning Morgunova about her time in France, they brought her to court, where she was charged with disobeying police for refusing to unlock her phone. She received a 10-day administrative arrest sentence.

Background on Krisevich

Pavel Krisevich was sentenced in 2022 to five years in a penal colony over a performance on Red Square in June 2021, during which he read out a manifesto condemning the police state and fired two shots into the air. He was released in January 2025, and by the end of that year had left Russia with his wife following two consecutive administrative arrests.

Separately, on August 24, 2026, former Pussy Riot activist Rita Flores said that Russia's Federal Security Service had recruited her in early 2023. She said she agreed to cooperate with the FSB and gather information on contemporary artists, including Krisevich, with whom she was friends.