Sex video shows Russia’s former PM Kasyanov, now a Putin critic, romping with mistress

A Russian state television documentary film showed opposition leader and former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov having an adulterous sex romp with a party activist and exposed deep rifts with other top Kremlin opponents, raising pressure on the opposition ahead of key elections later this year.

Kasyanov Day, which was broadcast on Friday by state-controlled channel NTV, used footage from a secret camera and a recording device to show Kasyanov and his alleged lover, Natalia Pelevine, half-naked in a bedroom. Elsewhere in the film, they appear to meet in a Paris hotel.

Kasyanov, who served as prime minister from 2000 to 2004 before falling out with President Vladimir Putin, on Saturday declined to comment on the film. He said he expects pressure on him and other Kremlin critics to escalate. Pelevine, writing on her Facebook page, blamed the authorities and secret services for what she called a “criminal” act, apologising for what is shown in the documentary.

Vladimir Putin wants to know who to hang if Russia-Crimea road isn’t built

The Russian opposition is complaining of an unprecedented crackdown before September parliamentary elections. Russians will go to the polls as they endure a second year of recession triggered by the collapse in oil prices, with incomes falling the most since Putin came to power 16 years ago.