Since the beginning of the Ukraine war, Russia has increasingly taken action against critics and members of the opposition. The former head of government in Russia, Mikhail Kasyanov, is now considered an opposition politician - and is now apparently leaving the country. Where he is remains a mystery.
Former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov has left the country. "He is currently abroad, I do not know where he is or when he will return," Konstantin Merslikin, a colleague of Kasyanov's party, told the state news agency TASS. Merslikin also gave no information about the reason for the departure.
In the course of the war against Ukraine, the Russian leadership has intensified its crackdown on members of the opposition and critics in recent weeks. Kasyanov was Prime Minister of Russia during President Vladimir Putin's first term of office from 2000 to 2004. Shortly before the 2004 presidential elections, he was fired after previously criticizing the arrest of oligarch and Yukos boss Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Kasyanov later tried his hand at being an opposition politician. He criticized Putin's leadership style as authoritarian. In the 2008 presidential election, the candidacy of the now 64-year-old was rejected by the electoral commission because of allegedly forged supporter signatures.
