Six years for a schoolboy for arson ‘on the instructions of Ukrainian intelligence’, and five and a half years for a farmer for two comments about Azov
Read our overview of these and other cases of political prisoners we have recognised last week
Dmitry Khasyanov from Krasnodar was detained in August 2025 over a comment in the Russian Volunteer Corps Telegram channel and an application to join the organisation. On charges of public justification of terrorism and preparation for participation in a terrorist organisation, he was sentenced to six years in a penal colony.
Aleksandr Yeryomin, a resident of a rural settlement in Volgograd Oblast, was detained no later than August 2024. For a comment wishing good luck to the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion, he was sentenced to two years in a penal colony on charges of public justification of terrorism.
Yuri Argeyev from Irkutsk Oblast kept pigs and grew grapes. For two YouTube comments in support of Azov, he was charged with public justification of terrorism. In March 2026, Yuri Argeyev was sentenced to five and a half years in a penal colony.
Danila Fakhreev from Bashkortostan was remanded in custody no later than September 2025. For videos in the Ukrainian language calling on people to join the Ukrainian armed forces, posted in a Telegram channel chat, he was charged with public online incitement to activities directed against state security, motivated by political hatred. Danila Fakhreev was sentenced to four years in a penal colony.
Ariadna Litvinova, a former police college student, was detained in St Petersburg on 24 February 2025. For writing anti-war slogans on propaganda posters, she was initially fined under the administrative code for discrediting the army, then remanded in custody on charges of vandalism. The custodial measure was subsequently softened and she left for Turkey. In July 2026, Ariadna Litvinova was deported back to Russia, whereupon she was again remanded in custody. The charge was reclassified as repeated discrediting of the army.
On the night of 25 March 2024, twenty-year-old Mikhail Bugayev and fourteen-year-old Taras Gagulin attempted to set fire to a railway relay cabinet in St Petersburg; the cabinet was only scorched on the outside. They were detained the same day. The investigation alleged that the defendants had acted in conspiracy with Ukrainian intelligence services in exchange for a promised reward of 20,000 roubles (≈€225). The court found them guilty of carrying out a terrorist attack by a group of persons acting in prior conspiracy and sentenced Taras Gagulin to six years in a young offenders’ institution and Mikhail Bugayev to thirteen years in a high-security penal colony.
Alyona Lysanova is a resident of Vologda Oblast; her father runs a major enterprise and is a member of United Russia. Criminal proceedings were brought against her no later than February 2025 on charges of state treason and public justification of terrorism. For cryptocurrency transfers to the Ukrainian armed forces amounting to more than $2,000 and for posts apparently in support of Azov, she was sentenced to thirteen years in a penal colony.
Vitaliy Ilyin, a pensioner from the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, was detained in December 2024. On charges of state treason for transferring 1,000 hryvnias (≈€20 or 2,100 roubles) to the Ukrainian armed forces, he was sentenced to twelve years.
Serhiy Korzh, an employee of Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, was abducted by Russian security forces in occupied Enerhodar in early September 2022. Formal charges were not brought until January 2024: the engineer was accused of passing information about the Russian National Guard to Ukrainian intelligence. On charges of espionage, Serhiy Korzh was sentenced to thirteen years in a high-security penal colony.
Seventeen Ukrainian servicemen captured in Donetsk Oblast — Serhiy Zavhorodniy, Pavlo Korostelev, Roman Romanov, Oleksandr Afonin, Vadym Bezuhlyi, Ruslan Sereda, Oleksandr Panov, Illia Trishchenko, Valeriy Chub, Ivan Kozyroda, Ihor Kravets, Denys Krykulskyi, Vasyl Lomakyn, Maksym Rud, Ruslan Shevchenko, Maksym Lytvyn, and Maksym Lyutyi — were convicted on terrorism charges for alleged membership of Azov. The sentences handed down to them are unknown.
You can read more about these cases, including addresses to write to the political prisoners, in our full report.
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