In Yekaterinburg, FSB officers came with a search to the author of the Telegram channel “Hussar Ballad” and PR specialist Yaroslav Shirshikov. He was the first to report the detention of The Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich in Yekaterinburg.
According to local media reports, Shirshikov may be charged with “publicly justifying terrorism” (Article 205.2). The reason for the persecution was allegedly his posts about the murder of "military correspondent" Vladlen Tatarsky in a cafe in St. Petersburg. The video of the search at Shirshikov's house was published by the pro-Kremlin Telegram channel UralMash.
On March 30, the day Gershkovich was detained, Shirshikov said that the journalist was working on a story about "Putin's chef" and recidivist criminal Yevgeny Prigozhin. He was also interested in the attitude of the Urals to the war. “He asked me to introduce him not only to liberals, but also to ‘patriots’, at least to some smart ones, who speak not only clichés from propaganda,” Shirshikov said .