Andrey Rudoy

Andrey Vladimirovich Rudoy (Андрей Владимирович Рудой; born 24 July 1990) is a Russian Marxist political and trade union activist, blogger, publicist and former school teacher, who is the head of the socialist Vestnik Buri (Вестник Бури) publicistic resource.

He was one of the co-founders of the organizations Union of Marxists and A Just World.

In October 2023, he was added to the list of foreign agents by the Ministry of Justice.

Andrey Vladimirovich Rudoy was born on 24 July 1990 in Gorky, which was renamed Nizhny Novgorod in October 1990.

Rudoy graduated from city school No. 32, after which he entered the Nizhny Novgorod State University, where he studied at the Department of Ancient World and Middle Ages History of the History Faculty.

In 2011, Andrei Rudoy became a member of the executive committee of the Nizhny Novgorod branch of the Left Front, and in January 2013 he was elected to the Council of the Left Front.

As an Left Front activist, Rudoy took part in the 2011–2012 Russian protests.

In particular, in 2012, Rudoy took part in an action against the ban on rallies that had not been approved by city administrations.

Activists, including Rudoy, ​​wrote to the Nizhny Novgorod administration en masse with requests to hold rallies, the purpose of which was to buy groceries in the company of friends or even wait for a bus at a bus stop surrounded by strangers.

According to activists, in this way they were trying to "bring to the point of absurdity" the situation with the need to negotiate with the authorities about holding mass events.

After graduating from the university in 2013, he got a job as a history and social studies teacher at school No. 23 in Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast.

In 2013, Rudoy, ​​as the coordinator of the Dzerzhinsk Left Front, was arrested for "violating the established procedure for organizing or holding a meeting, rally, demonstration, march, or picket".

That same year, his apartment was searched as part of the Bolotnaya Square case.

However, Rudoy was recognized as a witness, not an accused, and did not receive a criminal conviction.

In 2015, Rudoy founded the Nizhny Novgorod regional branch of the interregional trade union "Teacher", which is part of the Confederation of Labour of Russia.

As a trade union activist, he organized various events and protests of school teachers.

At the beginning of 2016, during a period of crisis in the Left Front, Rudoy left it and joined the socialist movement Workers' Platform.

On 9 May 2016, Andrey Rudoy registered the YouTube channel called Vestnik Buri (Вестник Бури).

On this channel, Rudoy promotes pro-Soviet and socialist ideas, covers news from a left-wing perspective, and criticizes the policies of the current Russian leadership.

Rudoy also created a publicistic resource of the same name, which is positioned as a "journal of total socialist propaganda".

In August 2018, at the congress of the "Teacher" trade union, he was elected co-chairman of the union.

In 2021, the Ural Automotive Plant in Miass, Chelyabinsk Oblast, filed a defamation lawsuit against Rudoy because he posted a message in his VK group with quotes from trade unionist Anatoly Bannykh about the problems of workers at the plant.

In 2019, Rudoy took part in a debate against the founder of Sputnik and Pogrom, Russian nationalist publicist Yegor Prosvirnin.

In November 2019, Rudoy founded the communist organization Union of Marxists together with the Station Marx news resource.

The movement participated in the 2021 protests and the 2022 anti-war protests.

In September 2023, Rudoy left the organization.

In 2022, Rudoy spoke out against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In October 2022, Andrey Rudoy left Russia and moved to live in France through Kazakhstan.

A criminal case was opened against him, the reason for which was posts in the VK group, where Rudoy was one of the administrators, with graffiti expressing an opinion against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Security forces then visited the Rudoy's home with searches, and, according to him, also tried to take his wife away from work.

After arriving in France, Rudoy took part in a conference of Russian socialists against the war in Ukraine.

The leader of La France Insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who chaired the conference, thanked French President Emmanuel Macron for ensuring Rudoy's safe relocation to France.

While in France, Rudoy continued his political blogging activity.

On the first anniversary of the invasion, he published a video on the Vestnik Buri channel in which he addressed his French listeners with a message, informing them that the majority of Russians, especially young people, are against military action.

On 15 April 2024, the Dzerzhinsk City Court registered the materials of the administrative case on "discrediting the armed forces" against Andrei Rudoy.

On 13 October 2023, Andrei Rudoy was added to the foreign agent list of by the Russian Ministry of Justice.

Upon learning of his addition, he stated that he "accepts congratulations".

In January 2024, the court refused to remove Rudoy's status as a foreign agent.

On 1 April 2024, the Ministry of Justice also included Big Seven LLC, one of whose founders is Andrey Rudoy, ​​in the list.

On 28 February 2024, Rudoy co-founded the Russian left-wing anti-war opposition coalition A Just World.