Translated material
Donat to arrest
Doctors, programmers, realtor and folklorist: whom they are pursuing for the donations of the FBK*
Victor Levakov in court. Photo: Varvara Gatauullina
In Russia, under the threat of persecution, everyone who sent donations to the Corruption Fund* after this structure of Alexei Navalny in June 2021 recognized the authorities as an extremist organization. From this moment, the Donata of the FBK became a criminal offense. Soon, representatives of the Fund said they found a safe way to transfer money: through an American payment service. But it turned out that in the first payments the name "FBK" was nevertheless mentioned. In the summer of 2022, the Russian security forces began the criminal prosecution of the senders. Now several dozen affairs have been instituted. Meanwhile, the courts continue to pass one sentence with another. On February 25, Viktor Levakov, the Nemtsova Most volunteer, received the real term for the Donates of the FBK.
"Twice I will not come to the same rake!"
The criminal prosecution of a 58-year-old activist began with the detention and a search of his house in August 2024. As the accused in court recalled, eight law enforcement officers broke into him at 6 am. The next day, the court appointed a preventive measure in the form of house arrest. Levakov was charged with four donates totaling 3,500 rubles (Article 282.3 of the Criminal Code - “Financing the activities of an extremist organization”). He transferred the FBK three donations in the amount of 1000 rubles in the framework of the issued subscription and another 500 rubles - there was a one -time translation.
The Levakov case was considered in the Meshchansky Court of Moscow, chaired by the judge of Oksana Goryunova. From the state prosecution-prosecutor Ekaterina Chepi-ip. Only four meetings were required by the judge to decide the fate of Levakov. He partially pleaded guilty and confirmed the fact of donations, but insisted that when Donatil, he did not know about the FBK in the list of “extremist organizations”. At the same time, he made a reservation that when he found out about this, he immediately unsubscribed from donations.
- Tell me, please, what methods of combating corruption did the FBK offer? Why was the money transferred, it was indicated that they would do with them? - asked the judge during the interrogation of Levakov.
- What will they do? They will publish data on corrupt officials, about people who ...
-And why do they need money? Why do they need money in such quantities?
- for the production of videos, for the maintenance of the premises, for the purchase of equipment ...
After hearing this, the judge sympathetically asked the accused, pointing to a weighty, the size of a whole volume of criminal case, a pack of bank extracts with thousands of payments to various charitable organizations over the past few years:
- Here you are for so long and have been engaged in charitable activities for so much time, transfer money to all to the right and left, we have introduced all this to the matter. And you at all ... someday you are interested in reporting? Now a lot of scammers have divorced who collect money, including supposedly for donations, I don’t know, cats and dogs. But in fact ... And if you did it once, well, it’s still clear, but you constantly transferred the money to someone, you should have understood where your money goes.
“I translated those to whom I trusted, yes, I trusted them,” the defendant answered confusedly. - Although, it used to be translated by fraudsters ... Well, I checked it, I tried when there was such an opportunity, and if it was not there, I didn’t check it.
- And with what is the reason that the FBK wanted to help? - asked lawyer Alexei Pershin at the client.
“Well, FBK, he seemed to position himself as the“ Foundation for the fight against corruption ”. And corruption in the country has a negative impact, so I decided to support this organization in the fight against corruption ... well, and, therefore, I began to help them financially ...
Also, at the request of his defender, Levakov noted that he was previously brought to administrative responsibility for “being in the area of an unauthorized rally”, has a number of chronic diseases. He recalled that his father, Evgeny Mikhailovich Levakov, was in the hospital in a lying state, on palliative care. In February, Levakov-Sr. was 85 years old. Later, in an interview with the “new”, Levakov admitted that his father, whom he, with the permission of the judge, visits strictly no more than once a week, of course, does not know about criminal prosecution, this would be a real blow to him.
“You will no longer transfer your salary to anyone, not making sure of what this or that organization really does?” - At the end of the interrogation, the lawyer specified Levakov.
- Twice on the same rake I will not come!
The prosecutor asked several of her questions:
- Where did they get a reference to payment [Donatov]?
- Probably from the letter that came to the mail ... The letter was asking for help. And so I opened the letter and helped ...
-And you, being subscribed to such and so telegram channels, among them-the Navalny team, did not know that the FBK was recognized as an extremist organization?
- No, I didn't know!
-And why, according to the protocol of the inspection of your devices and Internet browsers, you read posts in these channels, where they wrote about this court decision that entered into legal force?
- Because the same telegram has the same property - you scroll, without looking, the news feed, and all messages are automatically considered read, although in fact this may not be the case. And I, as I said, at that time, was busy with a completely different one ...
The prosecutor did not accept the arguments of the defendant and considered his position as a complete non -recognition of his guilt. In the debate, she proposed to appoint Levakov four years in prison. In his last word, the activist asked him to appoint him a punishment not related to imprisonment: “In order to transfer money to any organization, it is not necessary to be a convinced supporter. I ask the court not to deprive me of freedom. Yes, I made a mistake. From now on, he does not intend to repeat her. "
However, Judge Goryunova agreed with the position of the prosecution. She sentenced the activist by 3.5 years in a general regime colony. Also, by the court’s decision in favor of the state, the defendant confiscated the tablet and the smartphone with which he issued the donates, as well as the amount equal to the total amount of donations - 3,500 rubles. Levakov was detained in the courtroom. Now he is in jail.
Rude gap
In February 2025, several dozen criminal cases initiated by the FBK donates are known-in reality there can be much more. The first accused of transferring the funds of the FBK was the former editor of the DATA department of Novaya Gazeta and the co-founder of Dissernet Andrey Zazakin **. In August 2022, the Basmanny Court of Moscow determined him as a preventive measure for a ban on certain actions, in October of that year he left the country, and the court in essence did not take place against him. The materials of his criminal case showed several more people.
The fate of two of them managed to track: entrepreneurs Sergei Shiryaev from Moscow and Alexei Konovalov from the Magadan region. Both were sentenced to a fine of 500 thousand rubles. It is curious that in the materials of the Levakov case, which were at the disposal of “New”, when proved his guilt, the investigation refers to the materials of the ARD (operational-search activity) and the sentences against Shiryaev and Konovalov: “The funds transferred by the indicated method were received by a bank account-Malant with the identification number of V2NI29SJROMGYKY in Bankka Wells Fargo Bank (Wells Fargo Bank, USA). This fact is confirmed by the materials of the ARD in relation to citizens of the Russian Federation S. Shiryaev. and Konovalova A.G., who were sentenced to Art. 282.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for the implementation of financing extremist activities of the FBK. ”
For the first time that it was precisely for this unique identification number V2NI29SJROMGYKY, he is a merchant of ID, that the fact of the FBK donates already prove that the journalists have already written, explaining why so many things have been instituted for these donations and why they continue to start them. According to journalists, the FBK in 2021, after the supposedly long testing of the Donatian system, made a rough gap in safety, the essence of which has not yet been announced. This miss was discovered by Russian security forces - the number of the unique identifier of the recipient of the funds, the Merchant ID, which is in conjunction with the code of the Extvaier (Bank) allows you to unequivocally identify any donor. These data are available in bank extracts. Because of this gap, the security forces at the disposal was the base of the Donators of the “extremist organization” in almost seven months, from August 2021 to February 2022.
New cases, sentences, fines, terms
Departed fines for "financing extremist activities":
68-year-old Yuri Bobkov from Togliatti-300 thousand rubles for six donates in the amount of 1800 rubles. Since July 2024, he was under the subscription of the lower room.
Anton Grishin from Moscow - 350 thousand rubles for seven donates in the amount of 3,500 rubles. The decision was made in February 2025 by the Gagarinsky court of Moscow.
38-year-old Vyacheslav Herzberg from Syktyvkar-300 thousand rubles.
40-year-old neurologist Anton Goncharov from Biysk of the Altai Territory-500 thousand rubles.
26-year-old programmer Anton Ziderer from St. Petersburg-300 thousand rubles.
Ravil Zalyaev from the village of Leninsky of the Saratov region - according to the totality of crimes of 140 thousand rubles.
34-year-old Anton Rug from Omsk-300 thousand rubles.
Like many others, these criminal cases are already calculated in dozens. Some, like Levakov, were less fortunate. So, they sentenced to real imprisonment:
The 46-year-old cardiac surgeon Ivan Tishchenko from Moscow-by four years in a colony of general regime for seven donates in the amount of $ 70. The decision in December 2024 was issued by the Perovsky Court of Moscow. Since September 2024, he was under house arrest, since December of that year has been in jail.
37-year-old realtor Pavel Natsarenus from Kalinigrad-by eight months in a colony of general regime for seven donates in the amount of 1400 rubles. The decision in December 2024 issued the Leningrad District Court of Kaliningrad. During the period of this conclusion, the contents of the defendant of the case were credited from August 2024 at the rate of one day in the pre-trial detention center for a day of serving a sentence in a penal colony. In fact, all the time since the detention of Natsarenus, who did not apply for an appeal, spent in a pre-trial detention center and freed himself in January 2025.
29-year-old programmer Alexei Malyarevsky from Rostov-on-Don-according to the totality of crimes by seven years in a general regime colony. The decision in April 2024 issued the Dolgoprudnensky City Court of the Moscow Region. Since October 2023, he was in jail, since December 2024 he has been serving a sentence in IK-1 of Orenburg.
30-year-old hacker Andrei Kovalenko from the village of Taman of the Krasnodar Territory-according to the totality of crimes by five years in a colony of general regime and a fine of 200 thousand rubles. The decision in December 2023 issued the Temryuk district court of the Krasnodar Territory. The amount and amount of the donates, the place of serving the sentence, as well as the date of imprisonment, are unknown (the preventive measure-detention), the trial on it began in May 2023.
So far, some have been convicted - others are just being judged. These days, the trial takes place in relation to the 67-year-old developer of supercomputers, a doctor of physical and mathematical sciences, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, chief researcher at the Ilamazyan Institute of Software of the Russian Academy of Sciences Sergey Abramov from the Yaroslavl region. The case is considered by the Pereslavl District Court. Since April 2023, the accused has been under house arrest, since November of the same year has been underout a wizard.
In addition, almost every week reports on new criminal cases. In particular, 33-year-old Dmitry Dyba from Krasnodar became the defendants in the case of the FBK donations. He is charged with seven donates in the amount of 1050 rubles. Since February 2025, he has been under the recognizance not to leave. Another defendant is a 59-year-old folklore specialist of the Ob-Ugric peoples Valery Ledkov from Khanty-Mansiysk. He is charged with one donat in the amount of 300 rubles. Since December 2024, it has been under house arrest.