Russia is repressive. July 22-28, 2024.

Chronicle of repressions in Russia.

Over the last week of July, Russian security forces opened at least 16 criminal cases where, according to Avtozak LIVE, there is a political motive. This is 9 cases less than during the same period, when Avtozak LIVE participants recorded 25 politically motivated criminal cases.

7 cases were opened for words, and 4 for violent actions. Another 10 cases are related to what the Russian state considers terrorism. And almost all the cases filed (15) are related to the war in Ukraine.

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This digest was prepared based on the database of our project “If there were no war.”

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July 22, 2024:

• In Yekaterinburg, a criminal case was opened to justify terrorism against a local 32-year-old resident, his name has not been reported. The man was detained in Perm, where he allegedly tried to hide from the investigation. During the search, the flag of the banned terrorist organization “Russian Volunteer Corps” was seized from the man. According to the security forces, the Yekaterinburg resident, under a fake account, posted comments on one of the social networks in which “the activities of terrorists were justified and Russia’s special operation in Ukraine was condemned.” The court chose a preventive measure for the person involved in the case in the form of detention.
• In the village of Neftegorsk, Krasnodar Territory, a criminal case was opened for repeated propaganda of Nazi symbols and “discrediting” the Russian army against local 68-year-old resident Valery Kalaijan. The grounds for criminal prosecution were posts on Odnoklassniki. According to investigators, Valery published a swastika on his page. It is unknown what the accusation of repeated “discredit” is connected with. During the investigation, the Krasnodar resident was given a written undertaking not to leave.

July 23, 2024:

• In Mariupol, occupied Donetsk region, two local residents, aged 38 and 31, were detained ; their names and citizenship were not reported. According to Russian security officials, in June 2024, Mariupol residents were recruited by an employee of the Ukrainian special services through an Internet messenger. On his instructions, they allegedly intended to come to Belgorod for a monetary reward and set fire to the mosque there. The FSB claims that the Ukrainian special services aimed at “inciting interfaith hatred on the territory of the Russian Federation.” A criminal case was opened against the detainees for organizing a terrorist act. The court sent the men to a pre-trial detention center.
• A 35-year-old resident of the city of Melitopol was detained in the city of Berdyansk in the occupied Zaporozhye region. He was accused of inciting hatred and humiliating human dignity. According to Russian security forces, from October 2022 to April 2024, a man in various communities left text materials containing signs of humiliation of human dignity towards the residents of Russia, as well as a threat of violence against them. It is unknown whether a preventive measure has been chosen.

July 24, 2024:

• Local resident Pyotr Krasko was detained in Moscow. He was accused of participating in an illegal armed group. According to investigators, the man allegedly published information online about “joining the Freedom of Russia Legion.” On July 25, 2024, the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow placed Krasko in a pre-trial detention center.
• In Rostov-on-Don, FSB officers detained a local resident, an employee of one of the enterprises. The name of the person involved in the case has not been disclosed. A criminal case of high treason was opened against the Rostov resident. According to investigators, in April 2024, he transferred to the Ukrainian side data on the deployment of units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, which could be used against the Russian Armed Forces and result in damage to one of the critical military infrastructure facilities. The man was sent to a pre-trial detention center.
• In the Omsk region, a criminal case was opened to justify terrorism against a 22-year-old local resident. During the search, his phone and laptop were confiscated. According to investigators, the young man published materials in one of the chats on the Telegram messenger that contained justification for the activities of the organizations Legion “Freedom of Russia” and “Russian Volunteer Corps”.
• In the village of Samarskoye, Azov district, Rostov region, a criminal case was opened against four teenagers under 16 years old for insulting the feelings of believers. According to security forces, in May 2024, teenagers smashed an Orthodox icon with a hammer and set it on fire. They filmed the entire process and then posted it on social media.
• At the Stavropol railway station, two unknown people tried to set fire to a diesel locomotive with the driver in the cabin. It is alleged that while one arsonist was looking around, the second was pouring kerosene into the cabin through an open window, but they were scared off by the driver who was in the cabin. The men fled. Forensic experts seized a liter bottle with kerosene residue and one glove. A criminal case was opened for attempted terrorism.
• A 29-year-old native of the Volgograd region, Evgeniy Serebryakov, was detained in Bodrum, Turkey. He was accused of illegally acquiring and storing weapons, as well as killing two or more people in a generally dangerous manner, committed by a group of people for mercenary reasons. According to the security forces, Serebryakov planted a bomb under a Toyota Land Cruiser, which belongs to Andrei Torgashov, an officer in the GRU military unit of “psychological operations”. At the time of the explosion, Torgashom himself and his wife were in the car. Torgashov’s feet were blown off, his wife received shrapnel wounds. It is alleged that Serebryakov “acted on instructions from the Ukrainian special services.”

July 25, 2024:

• In Khabarovsk, a 39-year-old local resident was detained on charges of “high treason” and “assistance in terrorist activities,” his name has not been disclosed. According to investigators, the defendant not only tried to collect and transfer data to Ukrainian intelligence officers, but also persuaded the Russian military to go over to the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He allegedly personally persuaded a group of military personnel from the Khabarovsk garrison to leave the Russian Federation to take part in hostilities as part of the Russian Freedom Legion.
• In Kurgan, a criminal case was opened to justify terrorism against a local 33-year-old resident. According to the investigation, the Kurgan resident, being an opponent of the current government, actively expressed a negative opinion about it on social networks and called for a change of power in the country.
• In Birobidzhan, a criminal case was opened against a local resident for justifying terrorism. According to the security forces, the person involved in the case had a negative attitude towards the SVO, posted materials on social networks that promoted the activities of terrorist organizations banned in Russia, and also expressed his readiness to go to the territory of Ukraine and fight against the Russian army. The man was placed in a pre-trial detention center.
• In the city of Biysk, Altai Territory, a 20-year-old local resident was detained , his name has not been disclosed. He was accused of high treason and attempted financing of terrorism. According to the security forces, the young man proactively, in order to provide financial assistance and possible subsequent participation in the armed conflict on the side of Ukraine, established contact with a representative of the Ukrainian paramilitary association, recognized as terrorist and banned on the territory of Russia. After that, he transferred funds to purchase unmanned aerial vehicles and additional military equipment for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At the request of the investigation, the person involved in the case was taken into custody.

July 26, 2024:

• In the city of Staraya Russa, Nizhny Novgorod region, a 31-year-old Muscovite, temporarily living in the regional center, was detained . The man was accused of damaging a memorial structure to participants in the Great Patriotic War. According to the security forces, a Muscovite, while on the night of July 23 at the memorial in honor of Soviet soldiers and partisans who died in battles with the Nazi invaders, located in Victory Park, burned memorial wreaths in the “Eternal Flame,” which caused damage to part of the memorial. At the request of the Investigative Committee investigator, the man was sent to a pre-trial detention center.
• In Vladikavkaz, a criminal case was opened to justify terrorism against a local 44-year-old resident named Eduard, his last name has not been reported. The reason for the criminal prosecution was a comment that the man allegedly left on one of the social networks in September 2020, on the anniversary of the terrorist attack in Beslan, under a post entitled “The State Duma adopted in the first reading a law on changes to the list of Days of Military Glory and Memorial Dates, according to which it determined a new date for the end of World War II - September 3.” The post outraged many users, including Eduard, and he wrote a comment in which he called for “burning the State Duma.”