Arseny Klimin, Danil Yeliseev and Nikita Sukhorukov — political prisoners
Students from Yekaterinburg sentenced to 7–8 years for allegedly planning to set fire to railway relay cabinets for money on behalf of the Freedom of Russia Legion
At the time of their detention in early September 2023, all three defendants were 19 years old. Arseny Klimin was studying at the Ural College of Radio Engineering; he has a disability due to an autoimmune disease and hemophilia. Danil Yeliseev was also a college student and worked as a supermarket cashier. Nikita Sukhorukov was a student at the Ural State Pedagogical University.
According to the investigation, Klimin entered into correspondence with a representative of the Freedom of Russia Legion, who offered him money to set fire to railway relay cabinets in the city and its surrounding areas. Klimin recruited his friend Yeliseev to help him, and Yeliseev, in turn, passed the ‘assignment’ on to his acquaintance Sukhorukov so that he could earn money to repay a debt to Yeliseev.
On September 4, 2023, Sukhorukov went to the first ‘target,’ but did not set it on fire. Instead, he contacted Klimin and Yeliseev to discuss technical difficulties. At that moment, Sukhorukov was detained by traffic police officers who found his car suspicious. The detention took place 1.5 kilometres from the nearest relay cabinet. The following day, Klimin and Yeliseev were detained. All three were charged with attempting to carry out a terrorist attack as part of an organized group (Part 3 of Article 30 and Paragraph ‘a’ of Part 2 of Article 205 of the Russian Criminal Code).
On May 19, 2025, a military court convicted them, changing the charge to preparation for a crime (Part 1 of Article 30 and Paragraph ‘a’ of Part 2 of Article 205 of the Russian Criminal Code). Klimin was sentenced to eight years in prison, while Yeliseev and Sukhorukov were each sentenced to seven years. All three are to spend the first four years in prison and the remainder of their sentences in a maximum-security penal colony. They were also each sentenced to one year of restriction of freedom following their release.
Arseny Klimin claims that he acted on instructions from the Centre for Combating Extremism (Centre ‘E’), with which he had cooperated in the past. His contacts at Centre ‘E’ do not deny that they had cooperated with him previously, but say that they ‘did not understand his messages to them about the planned arsons.’ According to them, Klimin became involved in the operation on his own initiative in order to make money. At the same time, some details of the case indicate that law enforcement authorities may have been aware of what was happening and may have been monitoring all the defendants’ phones in advance. It is also possible that Klimin’s ‘Ukrainian correspondent’ was in fact a representative of the Russian security services. The case contains other contradictory evidence as well, including discrepancies concerning the number of relay cabinets allegedly targeted, whether it was physically possible to set them on fire within the agreed timeframes, and other circumstances.
Regardless of what role Russian law enforcement authorities may have played in the case, we believe that the actions allegedly planned by Klimin, Yeliseev and Sukhorukov should not be classified as a terrorist attack, but rather as the intentional destruction of or damage to someone else’s property, or as rendering vehicles and means of communication unusable. Both of these offences, however, are punishable only when the act itself has been completed, rather than at the stage of preparation.
A detailed description of the case of Arseny Klimin, Nikita Sukhorukov and Danil Yeliseev and of our position is available on our website.
How can you help?
You can write to the defendants at the following addresses:
Arseny Klimin and Danil Yeliseev:
Ru:
623850, Свердловская область, г. Ирбит, ул. Кирова, д. 29а, ФКУ СИЗО-2 ГУФСИН России по Свердловской области, Климинину Арсению Валерьевичу, 2004 г. р.;
Елисееву Данилу Алексеевичу, 2004 г. р.
En:
Arseny Valeryevich Klimin, born 2004, and Danil Alekseevich Yeliseev, born 2004, Remand Prison No. 2 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for Sverdlovsk Oblast, 29A Kirov Street, Irbit, Sverdlovsk Oblast, 623850, Russia.
Nikita Sukhorukov:
Ru:
620019, Свердловская область, г. Екатеринбург, ул. Репина, д. 4, ФКУ СИЗО-1 ГУФСИН России по Свердловской области, Сухорукову Никите Ильичу, 2004 г. р.
En:
Nikita Ilyich Sukhorukov, born 2004, Remand Prison No. 1 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for Sverdlovsk Oblast, 4 Repina Street, Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk Oblast, 620019, Russia.
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