Aleksandr Titov is a political prisoner
A 66-year-old resident of the Leningrad Oblast was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for comments posted in the Telegram channel of a Ukrainian publicist
Aleksandr Titov lives in the town of Slantsy in the Leningrad Oblast. Over the years, he designed medical equipment, worked in aviation, taught children computer programming, and most recently was employed at a water treatment facility. Titov lived in Ukraine for 20 years and holds both Russian and Ukrainian citizenship.
In late August 2024, security officers searched Titov’s home and then detained him. They later published a video in which he stated that ‘it was a mistake to post positive comments about members of Azov’. A court initially refused investigators’ request to place him in pre-trial detention and instead imposed certain restrictions on his activities. However, on 6 November 2024, after Titov missed the first court hearing because of a severe asthma attack, the court ordered his detention, even though the prosecutor had requested only house arrest.
Aleksandr Titov is being prosecuted over three comments in Ukrainian that he posted in the Telegram channel Konsul pro ideolohiiu (‘Consul on Ideology’), run by publicist Oleksii Reins, an Azov volunteer and, according to Russian state media, the movement’s ideologue. In these comments, Titov praised Reins’s article on nationalist symbols, wished him success, and, under a post about the publication of a book, wrote: ‘Congratulations from Ingermanland’. The authorities interpreted these comments as public justification of terrorism under Article 205.2, Part 2 of the Russian Criminal Code.
During the trial, it emerged that one of Titov’s colleagues had informed on him. She claimed that he had offered to help her son, a contract serviceman, leave the combat zone. She also testified that Titov had objected to seeing the symbol ‘Z’ on her car. Titov’s wife believes this may have been a provocation, as the woman had allegedly been introduced to Titov while seeking assistance for her son.
On 9 December 2025, a military court sentenced Aleksandr Titov to five and a half years in a general-regime penal colony.
In his comments, Titov did not justify terrorism; he merely expressed interest in the work of a publicist who studies nationalist symbolism. Moreover, even if he had expressed support for Azov, this should not constitute a crime, as the designation of the unit as a terrorist organisation in Russia is unlawful. The real reason for Titov’s prosecution is his pro-Ukrainian stance.
Despite his age and poor health, Titov was given a demonstratively harsh sentence. Waiting for him at home are his two children, who were 8 and 12 years old at the time of the verdict.
A detailed description of Aleksandr Titov’s case and of our position is available on our website.
How can you help?
You can write to Aleksandr Titov at the following address:
Ru:
196655 г. Санкт-Петербург, г. Колпино, ул. Колпинская, д. 9 ФКУ СИЗО-1 УФСИН России по г. Санкт-Петербургу и Ленинградской области, Титов Александр Алексеевич, 1960 г. р.
En:
Remand Prison No. 1, Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast, 9 Kolpinskaya Street, building 1, Kolpino, St. Petersburg, 196655, Russia, Aleksandr Alekseevich Titov, born 1960.
You can also send emails via the ZT service (for payment with all bank cards), and Memorial-France (free of charge).
Please note that letters in languages other than Russian are highly unlikely to reach the intended recipient.
You can donate to help all political prisoners in Russia.
