A Nalchik native was arrested in Moscow after returning from the United States.

A Moscow court has arrested Nalchik businessman Artur Zhakamukhov on charges of justifying terrorism. Zhakamukhov had lived in the United States in recent years and criticized Putin on social media.

Artur Zhakamukhov is 44 years old. The Khamovnichesky District Court of Moscow ordered his arrest on January 19.

The Nalchik businessman owned a restaurant in the Moscow region town of Balashikha, and in 2022, he left for the United States and settled in Seattle. There, he "attended anti-Putin rallies" and posted about these protests on VKontakte, according to Ostorozhno Novosti.

According to the publication, the criminal case against the businessman was opened in October. On social media, the man also published posts from a Ukrainian project about prisoners, criticized the actions of Russian troops in Ukraine, and in one of his most recent publications, "congratulated a Ukrainian unit, designated an extremist organization in Russia, on Defender of the Fatherland Day."

The 44-year-old Nalchik native's details were added to the Rosfinmonitoring registry of terrorists and extremists on October 31; next to Artur Zhakamukhov's name, there is an asterisk indicating ties to terrorism, according to a post by a Telegram bot tracking updates to the registry.

Artur Zhakamukhov also participated in the memorial service held in the United States following the death of politician Alexei Navalny. He posted a photo of himself holding a sign reading "I'm not voting for Putin" and a video address on social media, calling Putin an "international criminal" and emphasizing that he never voted for him, according to the human rights project OVD-Info*.

No sources have disclosed the reasons for Artur Zhakamukhov's return to Russia from the United States. There is also no information about when exactly he returned and was detained.

"Caucasian Knot" also wrote about the case of Timur Kishukov, which is being heard by the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don. Kishukov has been a US citizen since 2017. In November 2024, he returned to visit his family and ended up in a pretrial detention center in Nalchik. Security forces forced him to confess to working for American intelligence, and then opened a criminal case for participating in the fighting in Syria, his lawyer said.

* are listed as foreign agents.

** Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) is banned in Russia.