Nikolay Zabolotnev is very active on social media and uses this platform to express his support for Putin and the operation, to emphasize that the people of the DPR and LPR stand with Russia, to spread claims about genocide in the Donbas region and to state that the Ukrainian forces must be destroyed completely.
Nikolay Zabolotnev is the head of the Regional Executive Committee of the Khanty-Mansiysk Regional Branch of the Kremlin-aligned ruling party “United Russia”. He is also a member of the Duma of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Yugra of the seventh convocation.
Given his political influence, Nikolay Zabolotnev is responsible for inciting hatred vis-à-vis Ukraine, spreading pro-Russian disinformation and propaganda in the context of the war, as well as seeking to garner domestic support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Therefore, he is responsible for supporting actions or policies which undermine the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.
He is also the former head of the Youth Duma (youth parliament) in Yugra, which cooperates with the Youth Dumas of the self-proclaimed and so-called Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) and so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). Nikolay Zabolotnev regularly attends meetings, fora and events of the Yugra youth Duma. He was on stage for a sketch when he attended a regional charity concert on 1 April 2022, collecting money for support of the Russia’s so-called humanitarian operations in Donbass.