Stavropol Krai resident Sergei Dubkov sentenced to six years for military ‘fakes’

On 28 July, the Lermontov City Court sentenced Stavropol Krai resident Sergei Dubkov to six years in a general-regime penal colony. He was convicted of disseminating ‘fakes’ about the Russian military motivated by political hatred, under paragraph ‘e’, Part 2 of Article 207.3 of the Russian Criminal Code. The court announced the verdict on its official website.

The criminal case was launched over comments Sergei Dubkov left in a Telegram chat room.

Sergei Dubkov had previously been placed under administrative arrest at least three times, beginning in December 2025. According to a ruling published by the Pyatigorsk City Court, police detained him on 10 December 2025 near the Pyatigorsk railway station. He was charged with petty hooliganism combined with non-compliance with a police officer, and jailed for seven days. On 17 December, the day he was due to be released, he was detained again for ‘using foul language in public’, this time in Mineralnye Vody. This resulted in a further 10-day sentence.

Sergei Dubkov’s final administrative arrest took place immediately before he was remanded in pre-trial custody: on 25 February, he was handed another 10 days in jail. No public information is available regarding his whereabouts between 27 December, when his second detention ended, and 25 February.