Moscow court sentences man, 22, to 4 years in prison for ‘attempting to join Ukrainian army’

A court in Moscow has sentenced Maxim Dmitrienko, 22, to four years in prison, Mediazona cites the court’s press department. Dmitrienko was charged with attempting to join the Ukrainian army earlier.

The verdict says Dmitrienko will spend two out of four years in a maximum security prison. Additionally, he will then spend one more year on a supervised release.

Dmitrienko was found guilty of being a member of a militant group, Article 208.2 of Russia’s Criminal Code. Interestingly enough, the article allows to punish the convict with prison time in the range between eight and fifteen years, so it is unclear why Dmitrienko was only convicted to half the possible minimum sentence.

Dmitrienko was detained in April upon request of the FSB and sent to a pre-trial jail. The court’s press department reported back then that the man was “planning on joining an armed group in Ukraine”.

TASS reports, citing the court’s documents, that Dmitrienko spent three years serving in the French Foreign Legion as a gunner and gun layer. He contacted the Ukrainian embassy in Paris to join the army, but got rejected due to being a Russian national.

He then tried accessing the Ukrainian territory from Russia but was detained by the FSB before entering Ukraine, says the investigation file. The investigators also believe that the man was in touch with Ukraine’s Azov regiment.