Robert Aleksandrovich Schlegel (born 17 December 1984 in

Ashkhabad Ashgabat (Turkmen language, Turkmen: ''Aşgabat'') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies between the Karakum Desert and the Kopet Dag, Kopetdag mountain range in Central Asia, approximately 50 km (30 ...

Turkmen SSR The Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Turkmenistan, the Turkmen SSR, TuSSR, Turkmenistan, or Turkmenia, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union located in Soviet Central Asia, ...

) is a former

United Russia The All-Russian Political Party United Russia (, ) is the Ruling party, ruling List of political parties in Russia, political party of Russia. As the largest party in the Russian Federation, it holds 325 (or 72.22%) of the 450 seats in the St ...

politician who sat in the

State Duma The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly (Russia), Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of Russia, Constitution of t ...

from 2007 to 2016, emerging from the pro-Kremlin youth movement '' Nashi'' to become an advocate of internet and media regulation. After leaving parliament he resettled in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, obtained German citizenship, and in 2023 publicly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Early life and education

Russian press identified Schlegel in 2007 as a 21-year-old former ''Nashi'' press-secretary who declared almost no assets when he entered United Russia’s federal list. His formative political experience inside ''Nashi’s'' media department later shaped his focus on information policy.

Political career

Schlegel was elected to the 5th State Duma in 2007 and re-elected in 2011, sitting on the Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications and chairing its expert council on e-parliament initiatives. He defended a sexually suggestive United Russia video during the 2011 campaign, stating that “youth understand such ads.” In 2012 he dismissed anti-corruption activist

Alexei Navalny Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny (, ; 4 June 197616 February 2024) was a Russian Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia, opposition leader, anti-corruption in Russia, corruption activist and political prisoner. He founded the Anti-Corruption Found ...

as “totally without substance.” Schlegel co-authored bills such as the 2012 ban on U.S. adoptions of Russian orphans and early drafts criminalising “fake news,” and promoted the so-called “Google tax” on foreign IT firms. The following year he supported offering asylum to

Edward Snowden Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is a former National Security Agency (NSA) intelligence contractor and whistleblower who leaked classified documents revealing the existence of global surveillance programs. Born in 1983 in Elizabeth ...

. In 2016 he criticised

Ramzan Kadyrov Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov (born 5 October 1976) is a Russian politician and current head of the Chechen Republic. He was formerly affiliated with the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Chechen independence movement, through his father who was the ...

for invoking Stalin-era rhetoric against domestic opponents.

Emigration

Deciding not to run in 2016, Schlegel moved with his family to Munich through Germany’s ethnic-German resettlement programme. A

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest and most influential daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of ''SZ'' is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and ...

investigation reported that he was briefly hired by the Swiss cybersecurity firm

Acronis Acronis International GmbH, simply referred to as Acronis, is a Swiss cybersecurity and data protection technology company with its corporate headquarters in Schaffhausen, Switzerland and global headquarters in Singapore. Acronis develops on-premi ...

before concerns about his political past led to suspension. In an interview with

Meduza ''Meduza'' (Russian: Медуза, named after the Greek goddess Medusa) is a Russian- and English-language independent news website, headquartered in Riga, Latvia. It was founded in 2014 by a group of former employees of the then-independent ...

he cited family ties to

Volga Germans The Volga Germans (, ; ) are ethnic Germans who settled and historically lived along the Volga River in the region of southeastern European Russia around Saratov and close to Ukraine nearer to the south. Recruited as immigrants to Russia in the ...

and a wish for his children “to be representatives of two cultures.”

Political views

While in office Schlegel backed nationalist, conservative measures, including restrictions on foreign NGOs and praise for cyber-attacks on

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. After relocating he expressed regret for past votes and, in 2023, labelled Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine “a war that no one but

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

needed.”

References

1984 births Living people Russian nationalists Russian people of German descent Russian critics of Islam Far-right politics in Russia United Russia politicians Fifth convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation) Sixth convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation) Russian emigrants to Germany {{Russia-StateDuma-Deputy-stub