Natalya Valeryevna Rezontova is a Nizhny Novgorod journalist, political commentator, local historian, and tour guide. Since the 1990s she has worked in local-history journalism, in both television and print, and published the magazine "Avtoputeshestviya" (Car Journeys); since 2011 she has led tours of Nizhny Novgorod and the surrounding Region.[1] In 2020 she ran for the Nizhny Novgorod City Duma as a candidate of Yabloko and lost to the winner by twenty-seven votes,[15] and in 2021 she was removed from the race for the State Duma.[8][9] From 2021 to 2024 she went through a criminal case under the "sanitary" article, in which the court temporarily deprived her of internet and communications — tools without which her work is impossible.[7][2]

Local History and Tours

Rezontova's first works in journalism were connected not with politics but with local history: by her own account, in the 1990s she hosted a local-history program on television, later published in print outlets on the history of the area, and put out the magazine "Avtoputeshestviya."[1] From 2005 to 2009 she was registered as an individual entrepreneur, engaged in news agency activities and publishing;[18] she also owned the limited liability company AGT-Press, which was liquidated in 2018.[19]

Since 2011 she has worked as a tour guide. Her routes extend far beyond the city: besides Nizhny Novgorod, they include Gorodets, Arzamas, Diveevo, Bogorodsk, Semyonov, Pavlovo, Boldino, Bor, and also Murom and Gorokhovets in neighboring Vladimir Region. The tours are both on foot and by car — in her own car, with fifteen years of driving experience.[1]

She describes her approach briefly: alongside the usual sights, she offers "unconventional journeys to mysterious historical sites."[1]

Journalism

In the 2010s, Rezontova became known as a political columnist: her pieces appeared on the website Koza.Press, and the agency Nizhny Seychas called her a journalist of the outlet.[14][7] The topics of her 2021–2024 columns are municipal services and urban planning policy, the budget and oversight of it, and regional politics: "The Audit Chamber: Small Oversight of Big Money," "Three Hot Spots of Nizhny Novgorod Urban Planning Policy," "Governors Will Be Elected. What Will They Choose…," and the essays "The National Park at the Starting Line."[16]

Education is a separate topic. The website Reporter-NN, which has written about Nizhny Novgorod schools for many years, republishes her texts from the Telegram channel: in December 2023, a response to a proposal to punish "discrediting teachers."[17]

Elections

On July 4, 2020, Rezontova announced on her blog that she was running for the Nizhny Novgorod City Duma: a decision that was "thought through and prepared," with the reason being that "writing the truth is no longer enough."[12][14] She was nominated by the regional branch of Yabloko in single-member district No. 26 — the city center, Nizhegorodsky District; she herself remained nonpartisan.[12][13]

In the September 13, 2020 election, the district was won by Elena Arzhanova of United Russia by the narrowest of margins: according to the count on the night after the vote, 929 votes to Rezontova's 902.[15]

I'm 51. In my lifetime I have seen more than one era: Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko, Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and Putin. I can compare what happens when the government and the people live at opposite poles.

— Natalya Rezontova, July 2020[14]

Criminal case, 2021–2024

The case was prompted by the rallies of January 23 and 31, 2021, in Nizhny Novgorod and by social media posts about them. A criminal case under Part 1 of Article 236 of the Criminal Code — violation of sanitary and epidemiological rules — was opened in early March 2021: according to the prosecution, calls to attend an unauthorized rally could have contributed to the spread of respiratory infections.[7][4] Separately, she was fined twenty thousand rubles for a post of January 31.[10]

On March 2, the Nizhegorodsky District Court imposed a ban on certain actions on her: not to attend public events, not to use a telephone, mail, or the internet, to report on her calls, and not to communicate with Roman Tregubov, who was being tried in the same case. Her lawyer objected that such restrictions would deprive her of the ability to work as a journalist.[7] The next day, Rezontova stated that this was an attempt to restrict her journalistic activity.[2] In a single day, readers raised one hundred fifty thousand rubles in her support,[10] and on April 6 the regional court left the ban in force.[2]

At the first hearing on the merits, on February 10, 2022, she pleaded not guilty: the participants in the rally, she said, "observed the mask requirement and social distancing, and besides, they were outdoors."[10] From March 24 to August 12, 2022, she was under house arrest, after which the measure was eased to a ban on certain actions.[4]

The Nizhegorodsky District Court handed down its sentence on November 14, 2022: one year and six months of restricted freedom with a ban on leaving Nizhny Novgorod; the prosecutor had asked for two and a half years. About twenty people were in the courtroom that day.[4] In December 2022, the Regional Court upheld the sentence without changes.[5] With time under house arrest credited, the punishment came to one year, one month, and eight days and ended on March 9, 2024.[6][11] According to Reporter-NN, outside Moscow she remained the only person convicted under this article for the January 2021 protests.[11]

You can endure anything if you have public support.

— Natalya Rezontova, the first week without communication, March 2021[20]

After the sentence

She did not give up her work: she runs a Telegram channel where she writes about politics and city events — its posts are republished by Reporter-NN,[11][17] she publishes in Nizhny Seychas (her most recent essays appeared in the summer of 2024),[16] and she continues to lead guided tours.[6]

The local press counts her case among the political criminal cases against Nizhny Novgorod residents.[3] In Nizhny Novgorod journalism it remained notable for a reason unrelated to political views: an internet ban on a person whose work lies entirely online turned out to be a measure that hits the profession more directly than a fine or a written pledge not to leave town. There were no separate court rulings banning her from the profession in the case — the restriction emerged as a side effect of an ordinary preventive measure.[7]

Sources

  1. needguide.ru — Profile of guide Natalya Rezontova (archive)
  2. nn.aif.ru — Natalya Rezontova says there was an attempt to restrict her journalistic activity, March 2021 (archive)
  3. reporter-nn.ru — Political criminal cases against Nizhny Novgorod residents: nine stories (archive)
  4. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — Journalist Natalya Rezontova sentenced to one year and six months of restricted freedom, November 14, 2022 (archive)
  5. NewsNN — Convicted Nizhny Novgorod journalist unable to get her sentence changed, December 27, 2022 (archive)
  6. V gorode N — Nizhny Novgorod journalist Rezontova has served her sentence for taking part in a rally, March 2024 (archive)
  7. Kommersant (Privolzhye) — Nizhny Novgorod journalist banned from going online over sanitary violations, March 2, 2021 (archive)
  8. Kommersant (Privolzhye) — Nizhny Novgorod journalist accused in the "sanitary case" removed from the State Duma election, July 30, 2021 (archive)
  9. yabloko.ru — Central Election Commission removes Yabloko candidate, journalist Rezontova, from the State Duma election, August 20, 2021 (archive)
  10. Newsroom24 — Nizhny Novgorod journalist Rezontova sees no guilt on her part in the "sanitary case," February 10, 2022 (archive)
  11. reporter-nn.ru — Natalya Rezontova: "As of March 9, I am free," March 13, 2024 (archive)
  12. Otkrytyy Nizhniy — Nizhny Novgorod journalist Natalya Rezontova is running for the City Duma, July 5, 2020 (archive)
  13. pravdapfo.ru — Yabloko settles on its candidates for the Nizhny Novgorod City Duma, August 2020 (archive)
  14. Koza Press — Rezontova: I decided that writing the truth is no longer enough, July 4, 2020 (archive)
  15. Nizhniy seychas — United Russia members lead in 26 of 35 districts in the Nizhny Novgorod City Duma elections, September 14, 2020 (archive)
  16. Nizhniy seychas — Publications by Natalya Rezontova, 2021–2024 (archive)
  17. reporter-nn.ru — Natalya Rezontova on the authorities' idea of punishing "discrediting of teachers," December 6, 2023 (archive)
  18. saby.ru — Sole proprietor Rezontova Natalya Valeryevna, INN 526201596782 — Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs (EGRIP) data
  19. rusprofile.ru — Rezontova Natalya Valeryevna — participation in organizations, Unified State Register of Legal Entities (EGRUL) data
  20. reporter-nn.ru — Natalya Rezontova: "You can endure anything if you have public support," March 9, 2021 (archive)