Russian man sentenced to 15 years in prison for Ukrainian charity donation

A Moscow court has sentenced a man to 15 years in prison after he was convicted of treason for transferring $500 (€450) to a Ukrainian charity, independent news outlet Mediazona reported on Tuesday.

Sergey Irin, a software engineer and former employee at Russian tech giant Yandex, will spend the first three years of his term in prison, after which he will be transferred to a maximum-security penal colony. The court also fined him 5 million rubles (€53,300), equivalent to two years’ salary, Mediazona said.

As the verdict was being announced, Irin refused to stand and unfurled a banner saying “Putin is a dick”.

On 27 February 2022, just days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Irin transferred the donation from his Russian bank account to the Ukrainian charity Come Back Alive. He later left Russia, living in Türkiye and Sri Lanka, returning in April 2024 to meet friends and relatives in the central Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod.

Irin was first detained for profanity in a public place and arrested for five days for petty hooliganism. Upon his release, he was immediately re-arrested and charged with treason. Irin says he was subjected to electric shocks while being interrogated in Nizhny Novgorod. He was subsequently transferred to Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo pretrial detention facility, according to Mediazona.

The Come Back Alive foundation is one of the largest Ukrainian charities providing help to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). The charity uses donations to purchase equipment and weapons and to fund training for the AFU. It was declared “undesirable” in Russia in May 2024, meaning any involvement in its activities effectively became illegal.