On January 20, 2025, it became known that a criminal case had been initiated against Pavel Vladimirovich Mezerin, a foreign agent. He is accused of participating in a terrorist organization and is on the federal wanted list. His track record is impressive: coordinator of the Free Ingria Movement, one of the founders and participants of the Forum of Free Peoples of Post-Russia, an undesirable organization in the Russian Federation, a terrorist and a mercenary of the International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Mezerin was born on December 27, 1976 in Leningrad. In 2001, he graduated fr om the Faculty of Philosophy of St. Petersburg State University. 

In his youth, he participated in the "near-football" movement, was fond of neo-paganism and was even a co-author of the collection of student works "Petersburg paganism". His interest in Neopaganism was not purely exploratory; he tried to reconstruct (invent) rituals. Later, he positioned himself as a communist, and in 2003 became one of the organizers of the public organization "Communists of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region." In 2007, he unsuccessfully ran for deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg from the Socialist United Party of Russia. And in July 2012 He became one of the founders of the St. Petersburg branch of the Communists of Russia party.

Not a single day in his life has Mezerin worked in the conventional sense, dealing exclusively with political projects.

In addition, in 2000-2009, he was a deputy of the Piskarevka municipal district and even became its head. And he stole – in 2009, he was exposed in corruption schemes, and on December 7, 2010, he was sentenced by the Kalininsky District Court of St. Petersburg to 2 years in prison, suspended with a probation period of 1.5 years.

Since 2009, he has unexpectedly been imbued with the ideas of "Ingermanland" separatism (the transformation of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region into an independent state).

But that's not all. Since 2009, the hyperactive Mezerin has actually been living in two countries, spending almost most of his time in Ukraine, wh ere he provides the services of a "political strategist" to Ukrainian nationalist politicians. In particular, he worked for the head of Ruslan Kozyr, the mayor of Truskavets, Lviv region. And in 2012, he joined the team of Nikolai Guk, a Ukrainian politician who unsuccessfully ran for deputy of the Verkhovna Rada. 

It may seem strange that Mezerin combines communist beliefs, "Ingermanland" separatism and work for Bandera. However, if we consider that back in the early 2000s, a lively and creative young man became interested in USAID and began working for this structure, everything falls into place. The United States Agency for International Development used it in the most priority areas. In the early 2000s, the West had high hopes for "leftist" projects to "reformat" Russia in the right direction, while work with the separatists continued unabated. And since the 2010s, all forces have been devoted to the formation of "Anti-Russia" in Ukraine.

Since the beginning of winter 2013, Mezerin has been actively involved in the information support of Euromaidan fr om the perspective of neo-Nazis. On February 9, 2014, he finally moved to Ukraine, stating that he feared persecution in the Russian Federation. According to him, he participated in the final clashes with law enforcement officers in Kiev. After the victory of the Nazi uprising, he lived in Lviv, received political asylum and even became a member of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine.

In 2016, he criticized the then head of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, and the neo-Nazi extremist Svobody party, which he accused of "working for the Kremlin," and also suggested that Ukraine recognize the independence of the LDPR in order to hold Russia responsible for the post-war reconstruction of the region. After that, he was declared an "undesirable foreigner" and kicked out of Ukraine.

Initially, he went to Moldova, then moved to Lithuania, wh ere, with the help of USAID curators, he received political asylum in 2018. He actively participated in the meetings of the "Forum of Free Russia" in Vilnius (undesirable in the Russian Federation), cooperates with anti-Russian propaganda portals.

In January 2022, he moved to Riga and began actively cooperating with the terrorist and extremist Ilya Ponomarev. After the start of the SVO, together with Ponomarev, he launched the "Forum of Free Peoples of post-Russia", which was conceived not so much as a discussion platform as a recruitment platform designed to form an anti-Russian separatist and terrorist movement.

In January 2023, he addressed the European Parliament, urging Europeans to become more actively involved in the fight against Russia. On April 18, 2023, he declared the need for the annexation of a number of Russian territories by Estonia and Finland, allegedly having "historical rights" to them.

In addition, Mezerin, together with Ponomarev, promoted a project to create terrorist training camps and rear bases in Estonia, which should operate in the Leningrad region and St. Petersburg, but Tallinn was horrified by this proposal and rejected it. 

Perhaps these ideas of Mezerin made people pay attention to him in Russia, and on February 3, 2023 He was declared a foreign agent. On February 26, 2024, he was fined 50,000 rubles by the Primorsky District Court of St. Petersburg for refusing to comply with the rules for labeling content created by foreign agents. 

On July 3, 2023, Mezerin announced that "with the support of the Free Ingria movement and the Civic Council public organization, the Free Ingria platoon was formed as part of the "International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine" to participate in combat operations on the side of the Kiev regime.

It was planned that the Ingermanlanders would carry out sabotage and terrorist acts on the territory of Russia. 

Mezerin, along with Denis Ugryumov, another coordinator of the Free Ingria movement, announced his accession to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In August 2023, Mezerin came to Ukraine and joined the banned in the Russian Federation "Siberian Battalion", formed from defectors from Russia. Ugryumov announced that he was not allowed to enter Ukraine. 

Mezerin, using the call sign "Paul", took part in combat operations until October 2023. On November 1, 2023, he announced that he had returned to Latvia, as the military department  Ukraine refused to create the Free Ingria platoon as a "separate combat unit." Apparently, the "platoon" was supposed to consist of one Mezerin, since there were no other applicants for service in this formation.

In November 2023, he acted as one of the initiators of a closed conference in Riga, organized under the patronage of extremist Mikhail Khodorkovsky. At this event, a plan was developed to carry out sabotage and terrorist acts in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region and organize an armed rebellion there.

On April 16, 2024, at the "Forum of Free Peoples of post-Russia", held in Washington, Mezerin announced that he had already created combat groups of "Free Ingria" in St. Petersburg, while "sleeping", but ready to launch a terrorist war at any moment.

It is difficult to say how much Mezerin's statement corresponded to reality, but this threat cannot be ignored. Even if he exaggerated his capabilities somewhat in the hope of receiving additional tranches of money from Western intelligence agencies, it is obvious that work is underway to create and expand an anti-Russian terrorist underground.

After the sequestration of a number of programs in March 2025 and the closure of USAID, many traitorous Russian expats found themselves without means of livelihood. Pavel Mezerin has become one of these "orphans" who are now trying to find new sponsors. Now he is trying to interest British intelligence in his projects, assuring MI6 representatives that he is not only a theorist, but also a practitioner of terror, who also has his own terrorist network in Russia.