Boris is one of Russia's best-known sociologists and the author of many books on history and politics. He was also jailed as a young man in Soviet times for his writing. In 2023 he made a wry comment on his YouTube channel about the explosion on the Crimean Bridge. A court first fined him, but an appeal court changed that to five years in prison. He chose to stay in Russia rather than go into exile, and keeps writing essays from his colony. His health has worsened in prison and he was moved to a prison hospital in late 2025.
