From anti-war commentators to Ukrainian POWs: new political prisoners
Among those recognised as political prisoners are individuals targeted for speaking out against the war, alongside Ukrainian servicemen held in Russian custody
Yury Сhaikovsky, a neurologist from Saint Petersburg, Yulia Mirzalieva, a lawyer from Moscow, Ivan Stepin, a bank employee from Tula Oblast, and Sergei Baksheev, an engineer from Irkutsk Oblast, are being prosecuted for anti-war statements.
Yury Chaikovsky was arrested in autumn 2025 for a comment reading ‘salute to the Armed Forces of Ukraine’ under a news story about a drone attack on a Russian military base. He now faces up to seven years’ imprisonment under the charge of ‘justifying terrorism’. Chaikovsky is originally from Ukraine and has a young child.
Yulia Mirzalieva, also of Ukrainian origin and mother to a teenage son, has been prosecuted under the same article. From August 2025, she endured six weeks of repeated administrative arrests before formal detention for a comment on the death of propagandist Vladlen Tatarsky: ‘Retribution caught the little dog. Applaud standing.’
Ivan Stepin’s comments urged Ukrainian servicemen to act effectively against Russian occupiers, alongside sharp criticism of the authorities. One read: ‘Death and disgrace to the Kremlin lackeys, the little bald dogs, the Rashist filth.’ He was charged not only with ‘justifying terrorism’ but also with incitement to extremism, and in January 2026 he was sentenced to three years in a penal colony.
Sergei Baksheev was prosecuted for incitement to extremism, ‘justifying terrorism’, and calls for activity against the security of the Russian state. One comment simply said “Like!” under news of an attack on a military commissar, in others, he encouraged resistance to the authorities and donations to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He was sentenced to six years in June 2025, and his term was extended by eight months in October.
Dmitry Salikhov from Vladivostok did not publish comments. He shared information in his WhatsApp status about donations for a Ukrainian brigade. A friend reported him, becoming a key witness. Arrested in September 2024, Dmitry Salikhov was sentenced in April 2025 to two years in a penal colony under charges of activity against state security.
Our records continue to expand with the names of Ukrainian POWs prosecuted in Russia. Dmytro Kistion, Ivan Nechyporenko, Roman Hrushynskyi, Artem Onoprienko, and Volodymyr Yakovenko face charges of participation in a terrorist community for serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ ‘Aidar’ unit. Three of them are additionally prosecuted for training in terrorist activity. Dmytro Kistion and Ivan Nechyporenko were sentenced in September 2024 to five and a half years, Artem Onoprienko received 18 years in March 2026. The sentences of Roman Hrushynskyi and Volodymyr Yakovenko from autumn 2025 remain unknown.
Finally, five more individuals are recognised as political prisoners under charges of financing extremism for donations to the Anti-Corruption Foundation. All were arrested within a month of our previous update. On 6 February, photographer Gleb Stovbun was detained in Moscow, on 17 February, journalist Aleksandr Moiseyuk in Ryazan. On 24 February, an IT specialist from Tuva, Dmitry Murachev, had a suspended sentence replaced with three years of compulsory labour for transferring 1,200 roubles. In early March, two Bank of Russia employees were sentenced: Dmitry Mitrofanov to two years of compulsory labour for transfers totalling 3,500 roubles, and Aleksei Buchnev to three years’ imprisonment for donating 1,000 roubles.
You can read more about these cases, including addresses to write to the political prisoners, on our website.
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