Georgy Paramoshin and Kirill Nikulenkov are political prisoners
Students from the Moscow Oblast and Arkhangelsk were sentenced to 8 and 3.5 years in prison for publications on the Telegram channel ‘NATSDEM’
Georgy Paramoshin from Sergiyev Posad studied at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation and worked part-time as a history tutor. Kirill Nikulenkov from Arkhangelsk was a college student.
In 2022, Paramoshin created the Telegram channel ‘NATSDEM’. Through the channel, he published posts critical of Russian government policies, including migration policy, the war in Ukraine, mobilization, and Vladimir Putin personally.
In the summer of 2023, Nikulenkov became the channel’s second administrator. He was 17 years old at the time. On 4 November 2023, the channel organized a campaign called ‘Day of Wrath’, and in February 2024 it launched the anti-war campaign ‘Enough’. The channel had attracted the attention of law enforcement agencies as early as 2022, and for almost a year and a half they secretly monitored Paramoshin.
In mid-March 2024, searches were conducted at the homes of Paramoshin and Nikulenkov. Paramoshin was initially placed under house arrest and then transferred to a pre-trial detention centre a month later. Nikulenkov was taken into custody immediately.
Because of publications containing slogans such as ‘Down with the Chekists’ power!’, ‘Peace to the Slavs, war to the Kremlin’s [rulers]’, and ‘Stop wasting Russian lives’, as well as calls to participate in campaigns and distribute leaflets, Paramoshin and Nikulenkov were charged with creating an extremist community (Part 1 of Article 282.1 of the Russian Criminal Code), public calls for extremism (Part 2 of Article 280), and incitement of hatred or enmity (Part 2 of Article 282).
In October 2025, a court in Sergiyev Posad sentenced Georgy Paramoshin to 8 years in a general-regime penal colony and Kirill Nikulenkov to 3.5 years. Two other defendants in the case, Sergei Litvinov from Nizhny Novgorod and Mikhail Noskov from Tatarstan, were also convicted as members of the alleged ‘extremist community’ and received suspended sentences. The appeal court upheld the verdict.
Paramoshin did not admit guilt and insisted that his activities were not extremist. In October 2024, he went on a week-long hunger strike in detention, demanding an end to the war in Ukraine and the release of political prisoners.
In March 2026, it became known that a criminal case had been opened against an activist from the Altai Republic who had taken part in an action organized by ‘NATSDEM’ in 2023. His name and the details of the charges remain unknown.
We believe that the prosecution of Paramoshin and Nikulenkov is primarily connected to their political views and anti-war stance. The publications and slogans that formed the basis of the criminal case did not contain calls for violence.
A detailed description of Georgy Paramoshin’s and Kirill Nikulenkov’s case and of our position is available on our website.
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