Belgian-Russian programmer sentenced to sixteen years for treason after travelling to Russia to visit his father
The Pskov Regional Court has sentenced Mikhail Loshchinin, a citizen of Belgium and Russia, to sixteen years in a penal colony, according to a correspondent for Ostorozhno Novosti.
Mikhail Loshchinin was detained on 1 July 2025 while crossing the Latvian–Russian border on a motorcycle, en route to St Petersburg to visit his father, who had recently suffered a heart attack. According to his mother, speaking to Sever.Realii, FSB officers searched his phone and found numerous contacts in Ukraine, as well as correspondence with his former girlfriend there, who in 2022 asked him for financial assistance. This exchange later formed the basis of the treason charge under Article 275 of the Russian Criminal Code.
With no formal grounds for detention, officers allegedly entrapped him. After a prolonged border check, when Loshchinin asked where he could buy water, he was told to follow their vehicle on his motorcycle, after which he was informed that he had illegally crossed the state border. Three days later, on 4 July 2025, he phoned his mother to say he was being held under guard at the Dubrava hotel in Pytalovo. He said officers had given him a choice: either be taken to a basement to wait while they decided what to do with him and his documents, or remain at the hotel at his own expense.
On 1 August, he met a lawyer while still being held without formal charges. The following day he was transferred from Pytalovo to Remand Prison No. 2 in Stary Oskol, Belgorod region — a facility housing Ukrainian prisoners, including civilians detained without trial in connection with alleged opposition to the war. He later reported that he was stripped naked and beaten, and that his glasses were confiscated despite his eyesight being -8. He was ultimately forced to sign a document stating that he had remained at liberty until 21 August.
On 21 August, Mikhail contacted his family to say he was being held at Remand Prison No. 1 in Pskov and that a treason case had been opened against him.
Mikhail Loshchinin is 48 years old and has lived in Europe since 1999. In recent years he was based in Germany, working as a database administrator in Luxembourg. He is a keen motorcyclist and musician, and has taken part in theatre productions staged by the Russian diaspora in Europe.
