Maria Sergeyevna Motuznaya (Russian: Мария Сергеевна Мотузная; born August 26, 1994) is a Russian blogger and activist. She came to public attention in 2018 when she explained on Twitter why she was on Russia's official list of extremists and terrorists.[1][2]
In May 2018, she was jailed for sharing an offensive meme on social media.[6][7] The basis for the accusation was that in 2015, she had saved pictures of memes on the themes of religion and race in her VKontakte albums.[8]
Motuznaya believes that the real reason for her persecution is her activism. She has repeatedly published announcements of opposition rallies, including those of Alexei Navalny, on social media.[9]
In October 2018, she announced her emigration from Russia to seek asylum in a European country.[10][11] In January 2019, the case against her was discontinued.[12][13]
In March 2022, Motuznaya criticized AssezJeune's reasons to remove the red stripe from the white-blue-white flag.[14]
