Yegor Gulyaev from St Petersburg sentenced to six years over three reposts about the war

Yegor Gulyaev, a resident of St Petersburg, has been sentenced to six years in a general-regime penal colony over three reposts about the war in Ukraine, RusNews reports.

Judge Aleksandr Mavrin of the Nevsky District Court in St Petersburg passed the sentence. Yegor Gulyaev was found guilty of knowingly spreading false information about the Russian Armed Forces motivated by hatred (Article 207.3, Part 2(e) of the Criminal Code). He was also banned from administering online resources for four years.

Prosecutors had asked for 12 years. The defence argued that Yegor Gulyaev harboured no hatred towards the army and asked for the charge to be reclassified as a lesser offence. His lawyer also said one of the three reposts was not public, as Yegor Gulyaev’s page had been blocked in Russia at the time.

‘I am deeply ashamed, and it pains me that I have let my family down,’ the political prisoner said in his final statement, as quoted by RusNews. ‘I regarded my page as a private space. In early 2022, I believed the conflict could be resolved by diplomatic rather than military means. But what happened, happened, and sadly it is still happening. […] I am a very empathetic person and at heart a humanist, opposed to violence and discrimination. I felt no hatred towards the Russian Armed Forces, and I feel none now, because I come from a military family. My parents have served. […] I ask you not to ruin my life. […] I want to start a family with the woman I love, I want children, I want to help my parents and, of course, I want this terrible, cruel and vile war to end and the long-awaited peace to come.’

Yegor Gulyaev said he was half Ukrainian, that Ukraine was a ‘second home’ to him, and that he had many relatives and friends there whom he feared for.

Yegor Gulyaev, 36, was remanded in custody in November 2025. Before his arrest, he worked as a dispatcher for a security firm and was a keen boxer. He married while in detention.