Mikhail Dudin, a former department head within the Presidential Administration’s Domestic Policy Directorate who oversaw Kremlin-aligned Telegram channels, has been placed on the federal wanted list and appears to have left Russia. His associate—Pavel Seleznev, a former officer of the Samara Region FSB—did the same earlier. Their three "target" destinations were the UAE, Georgia, and Thailand. Last autumn, Dudin’s "right-hand man," hacker Denis Obrezko, was detained in the latter country at the request of the US FBI. News that Obrezko had been extradited to the US two months ago—where he subsequently faced charges—went largely unnoticed.
Dudin began his career by organizing a DDoS attack on the *free.navalny.com* website before moving up the ranks. He relocated from the Samara Region to Moscow to become a department head within the Presidential Administration’s Domestic Policy Directorate. Dudin is a close friend of Vasily Brovko, the Director for Special Assignments at Rostec. Pictured here are Dudin, Brovko, and Timur Prokopenko—the latter being the former deputy head of the Presidential Administration’s Domestic Policy Directorate.
Dudin and his associate Pavel Seleznev—a former Samara Region FSB officer also implicated in the DDoS attacks—were involved in the forcible seizure of major assets from Samara Region businessmen, a process that included sending uncooperative entrepreneurs to pre-trial detention centers. After leaving the security services, Seleznev had headed the "Samara Region Infrastructure Protection Center" (an autonomous non-profit organization) under the regional government. Until recently, both Dudin and Seleznev were highly influential figures in the Samara Region. Obrezko and Dudin first teamed up during their days of active hacking; as Dudin’s career took off, Obrezko handled the actual hacking operations for their partnership. Notably, Obrezko is a graduate of the Academy of Cryptography and a former employee of Kaspersky Lab.
In the summer of 2025, Dudin ran into serious trouble. According to our information, Samara Region Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev complained to his supervisor—State Council Secretary and former Putin bodyguard Alexey Dyumin—that Dudin was actively interfering in regional affairs and hindering his work. Consequently, Dudin was dismissed from the Presidential Administration. The situation escalated to the point where he faced potential imprisonment, a fate he avoided by "hiding" in the Special Military Operation zone.
Materials regarding Obrezko’s arrest partially corroborate this information. They indicate that, as early as August 2025, the Investigative Department of the Russian Interior Ministry requested files from Kaluga concerning a hacking group—activities that appear linked to the shared hacking past of Dudin and Obrezko. However, no suspects had been formally charged in the case prior to November.
In the autumn of 2025, after celebrating his wife’s 35th birthday, Obrezko embarked on a tour of Asia with her. They spent an extended period in China before moving on to Thailand, where Denis was detained at the request of the United States. According to US authorities, Obrezko "breached security systems and attacked government institutions in Europe and the US."
Russia also attempted to secure custody of Obrezko using the Kaluga case; he was placed on the wanted list, and an extradition request was sent to Thailand. However, Thai authorities prioritized the US request.
It will be fascinating to see whether Dudin, too, ends up in the United States as a result of this entire saga. In that case, extremely difficult times will await all his partners and associates at every level.
