Robert Aleksandrovich Schlegel (born 17 December 1984 in Ashkhabad, Turkmen SSR) is a former United Russia politician who sat in the State Duma from 2007 to 2016, emerging from the pro-Kremlin youth movement Nashi to become an advocate of internet and media regulation.[2] After leaving parliament he resettled in Munich, obtained German citizenship, and in 2023 publicly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.[3][4]
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.[5] His formative political experience inside Nashi’s media department later shaped his focus on information policy.[6]
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.[7] He defended a sexually suggestive United Russia video during the 2011 campaign, stating that “youth understand such ads.”[2]
In 2012 he dismissed anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny as “totally without substance.”[6]
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.[8] The following year he supported offering asylum to Edward Snowden.[9]
In 2016 he criticised Ramzan Kadyrov for invoking Stalin-era rhetoric against domestic opponents.[10]
Emigration
Deciding not to run in 2016, Schlegel moved with his family to Munich through Germany’s ethnic-German resettlement programme. A Süddeutsche Zeitung investigation reported that he was briefly hired by the Swiss cybersecurity firm Acronis before concerns about his political past led to suspension.[11] In an interview with Meduza he cited family ties to Volga Germans and a wish for his children “to be representatives of two cultures.”[12]
Political views
While in office Schlegel backed nationalist, conservative measures, including restrictions on foreign NGOs and praise for cyber-attacks on Estonia.[8] 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 needed.”[3]
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