Russian city council candidate says he broke spine by jumping from window on run from police 

A city council candidate in Chelyabinsk, in the Russian Urals, broke his spine after jumping from a second-storey window while attempting to flee police officers who had arrived at his apartment, he said in a Telegram post on Wednesday.

Mikhail Popov, an urban planner and council candidate, said the incident took place on 13 July, when two police officers came to his door — among them one who had previously interviewed him in connection with an assault he suffered in September 2025. Fearing the officers would break down the door, Popov said he tried to escape through the window.

Several hours after the incident, Popov posted photographs from a hospital bed showing him hooked to an IV drip and wearing a neck brace. He has not responded to journalists since.

A person close to Popov told the independent outlet 7x7 that he fled his apartment out of fear the officers would force their way inside, though the purpose of the police visit remains unclear. The source said one of the officers later visited Popov in the hospital and asked him why he had jumped, while simultaneously denying that he had been at Popov's apartment at all.

7x7 also reported that two additional men dressed in black were present alongside the police officers at the scene, carrying a stretcher and what appeared to be gas masks. Their identities and the purpose of the equipment remain unknown. The men were recorded by the building's intercom camera.

In September 2025, Popov said he had been beaten by unidentified men in camouflage, an attack he linked to his opposition to development plans in the Chelyabinsk city forest.