Prosecutors seek 18-year prison sentence for Tolyatti resident arrested after conversations with a provocateur
The prosecution has requested an 18-year prison sentence for Polina Evtushenko, a resident of Tolyatti, who is accused of attempting to persuade an acquaintance to join the “Freedom of Russia” Legion, as well as of social media posts and graffiti. This was reported by Pervy Otdel.
Evtushenko is charged under six criminal articles: preparation for high treason (Part 1, Article 30 and Article 275 of the Criminal Code), aiding terrorist activity (Part 1.1, Article 205.1), four counts of justifying terrorism online (Part 2, Article 205.2), three counts of spreading “war fakes” motivated by hatred (Point “d”, Part 2, Article 207.3), two counts of calling for extremism online (Part 2, Article 280), and desecration of a symbol of military glory online (Part 4, Article 354.1).
The charges of preparing for treason and aiding terrorism are linked to Nikolai Komarov, a resident of Samara who initiated contact with Evtushenko, discussed the Russian-Ukrainian war with her, and recorded their conversations on a voice recorder. He later became a key prosecution witness. According to the FSB, the woman tried to persuade him to join the “Freedom of Russia” Legion.
“I was going on friendly dates, and then it turned out that this person had been recording our conversations on a voice recorder from our very first meeting. He asked me a lot of questions about them [the ‘Freedom of Russia’ Legion], and I answered him,” Evtushenko wrote in a letter to the outlet Kholod. She said the recordings she was allowed to hear during the investigation were edited, and she insisted on listening to the full audio: “You can hear there that I’m not persuading him, but on the contrary, discouraging him from taking part in the war.”
In 2017, Nikolai Komarov was a volunteer at Alexei Navalny’s Samara штаб (campaign office), and later recorded “exposé” videos about the work of opposition activists. He also has several criminal convictions for theft. He has been seen at rallies of the pro-government “National Liberation Movement” (NOD), and journalists found fascist statements in archived versions of his social media pages.
The remaining charges against Evtushenko are related to her social media posts and graffiti in Tolyatti in support of the “Russian Volunteer Corps” and the “Freedom of Russia” Legion. According to SOTAproject, these included “posts supporting the RVC and LFR, insults against Putin, accusations that the Russian army shelled civilian targets in Ukraine,” as well as “a photo of WWII veteran Shmakov depicted as Gollum.”
Evtushenko was detained in July 2023 and has been held in pretrial detention since then. She has a seven-year-old daughter.
