Translated material
How, because of the war, the father was released, and the son received 15 years. History of the Ubiraev family
On January 28, 2026, the 2nd Western District Military Court found 30-year-old Evgeniy Ubiraev from the city of Pyt-Yakh in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug guilty of participation in a terrorist community and sentenced him to 15 years in prison (5 years in prison, the rest of the term in a maximum security colony). The basis was three photographs - two parking lots and an air defense complex, taken by Evgeniy back in 2023. Meanwhile, Evgeny’s father, Vyacheslav Ubiraev, left prison for the front and is fighting against Ukraine. Close families do not exclude the possibility that it was he who denounced his son.
The last time father and son saw each other was about six months ago in the pre-trial detention center where Evgeniy is imprisoned. Vyacheslav threatened to kill him as a traitor.
"It was not a Ukrainian curator"
According to investigators, on March 11, 2022, Yevgeny Ubiraev contacted the International Defense Legion of Ukraine via the Internet. project of the Ukrainian government to attract foreign volunteers to repel the Russian invasion and stated that he wants to fight in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. At that time, the organization was not recognized as terrorist in Russia. On October 2, 2023, a representative of LSR, already recognized as terrorist in Russia The Russian Freedom Legion, a military unit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces formed from Russian prisoners of war and volunteers, wrote to Ubiraev in a telegram, giving him the task of photographing an anti-aircraft missile system in Moscow and military vehicles in a parking lot. When Ubiraev sent the pictures, the “Ukrainian curator” gave, according to investigators, the following task - related to the use of an explosive device.
“Evgeniy refused to carry it out. And this was not a Ukrainian curator, but someone who was deliberately preparing a setup for Zhenya, it was a provocation,” say Evgeniy’s relatives. At the same time, they do not hide the fact that he perceived Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine “extremely negatively” and actually tried to contact the Ukrainian Armed Forces in 2022.
“He always had very clear anti-regime views, and of course anti-war,” says Evgeniy’s longtime friend Artem (the names of the interlocutors have been changed for security reasons). – He had many friends in Ukraine. Another reason why he is against any war: his father is a military man, he fought in Chechnya on the side of Russia, after it he returned home with mental problems, began to drink, beat him and his mother. Even when Zhenya was little, he clearly saw what war does to people.
Vyacheslav Ubiraev, Evgeniy’s father, was born in the city of Bryanka, Voroshilovgrad region of the Ukrainian SSR (now Lugansk region of Ukraine) in 1972. But he has been living in Russia for a long time, in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, where he got married and in 1996 the couple had a son. Then they divorced, and Evgeniy lived with his stepfather.
“His parents and stepfather have always been extremely pro-Putin, and, of course, the beginning of the SVO caused a very violent conflict in the family,” says Artem. – Although Zhenya loves his parents very much, they are all believers, Zhenya even did videography for the Russian Orthodox Church. And this additionally caused cognitive dissonance for him: how is it possible to be believers, but at the same time support this?! In addition, at that moment he broke up with his girlfriend after 5 years of relationship because of her infidelity. This finally finished him off. He admitted at that time that he wanted to commit suicide (he is, in principle, a person prone to depression, there is such a thing), but did not want to die “just like that.” Therefore, just like that - by turning to the legion - I decided to sacrifice myself. But we are sure that the contact who got in touch with him a year and a half (!) after he contacted the legion bot - he was originally an employee of Russian services! They guided him from the very beginning, asked him to take a photo and so on.
After Evgeniy took photos of parking lots and air defenses, someone with whom he was in touch on the Internet suggested that he “place some kind of explosive device under someone’s car.”
– Zhenya categorically refused! After this, allegedly, the “curator of the legion” (and in fact, we are sure, a Russian security officer) began to threaten him - they say that he will “hand over” him to the Russian special services. Then Zhenya decided to leave from Russia,” Elena, a close friend of the Ubiraev family, told Siberia.Realities. – By that time he was already married to Daria (they met and got married somewhere in the second year of the war). The decision to leave was very difficult for them: they both love the country very much, Daria had to give up her favorite job, and besides, their parents are elderly. They waited until the last minute, but then Zhenya not only began to receive threats, it became clear that he had fallen for a setup, and it was impossible to stay. They left in June 2024. First to Belarus, then to Armenia. At the same time, Zhenya, even then, kept saying: “We will be back soon, we will be with our loved ones again.” He really hoped so. He never even had a foreigner. Before leaving, he filed a complaint against him. But he was never able to get a passport after leaving - he was constantly informed from the consulate that his “documents are under consideration.”
At the same time, in Armenia everything went well for Evgeniy at first. He is an electrician by training. But back in Russia he began to master 3D design. In Yerevan, I was quickly able to get a job online for an Estonian company that specializes in computer design.
“He was incredibly happy that he was hired as an intern for now. In addition, the company employed many guys from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, in addition to Europeans. That is, the community was as diverse and supportive as possible. Zhenya mentioned that he asked HR if there would be any problems because of his citizenship, but they didn’t evaluate him based on his passport,” says Elena. “But the main thing for Zhenya at that moment was that their stay with Dasha in Armenia was legal. They even thought about getting Armenian citizenship in the future, so they were afraid to violate something even in small things, they thought that illegal stay could complicate everything and even lead to deportation. That’s why the visaran was so important for them. ( procedure for extending legal stay in the country through short-term travel outside its borders 180 days after arrival - SR ). They, of course, did not think about visaran through Russia. Kazakhstan scared off with yet another news about the deportation of someone; they were not advised to go to Georgia without a foreigner. Of the available options, Belarus remains. I was hoping to get through. After all, before that they entered Armenia through Belarus.
"I'll return you under escort"
Ubiraev went to Belarus for visaran in December 2024. On the way back he was detained at Minsk airport.
– Zhenya managed to inform Dasha about the arrest. She started calling the border service and all other authorities, and hired a lawyer,” says Elena. “No one could say where he was, they said it didn’t happen, we don’t know anything.” For several days there was no information at all. Then she got through to someone from the police department, he promised to “look for it.” After she cut off his phone during the day, he said that yes, your husband was detained, and so and so, they were transported to Yekaterinburg. She herself, when she was flying to Zhenya in Russia through Minsk, was detained at the airport at the entrance, and then the Belarusian KGB interrogated her, looked at her phone, and threatened to hand her over to the local police. Then after interrogations they released me. He was only able to tell the details of Zhenya’s detention to his lawyer, who had already passed it on to his family and friends. We know for sure that Zhenya was tortured and beaten in Minsk. Now visits with him are very limited. As far as I know, even his wife saw him through glass only a couple of times. At first they promised to make the court open, and then they closed it once - his wife came to the trial, they left her standing outside the door, and only allowed her in to give testimony and give the verdict. And at first they planned to transport Zhenya to Moscow for the trial, but in the end the judge came to Yekaterinburg himself.
When Evgeniy’s relatives found out the judge’s name, they were overcome with despair.
“Zhenya was tried by Massin (judge of the Second Western District Military Court Yuri Massin announced the verdict in the case of director Zhenya Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk - SR ) , who imprisoned Berkovich and Petriychuk,” says Elena. – In the case, he was not charged with unnecessary actions; according to the lawyer, he came across an understanding investigator who saw that Zhenya was not a criminal or a terrorist at all. As a result, he and his lawyer fought off the aggravating charges that could have been thrown. The lawyer said that in the presence of mitigating factors, the judge “became angry.” We understood that the time would be rather long, but in the end it turned out to be much longer than expected, for a case where there was no damage, no casualties, just three photos.
For Judge Massin, these photographs were enough.
– As a result, 10 years of strict regime, 5 years in prison + a fine of 300 thousand. His mother said that she would not live to see him come out, his wife Daria literally turned gray this year,” says Artem. “Most of his relatives still don’t know what happened to him: his mother is hiding it and many people think that he’s just abroad. Those in the know are outraged by this deadline. They know Zhenya as a wonderful person, they understand that he is absolutely not a prison character!
Evgeniy’s mother did not come to her son’s trial.
“Their relationship is complicated due to different positions; she hasn’t even written letters to him since her arrest, but she has sent him parcels. And he himself did not want his mother to come to the trial. She didn’t want to either, she just asked him to tell Zhenya that she didn’t understand him, but still loved him,” says Elena. – The whole family are very conservative people (not only in politics) from the outback, while Zhenya is an informal person, a goth, and always stood out. He was never silent at all if he saw injustice or did not support something, so conflicts often arose. But Zhenya always spoke positively and lovingly about his relatives, about his mother in particular, saying that they were very similar. In general, a kind of tough love, it was easiest at a distance, and both parties were happy with it. He respects his stepfather very much, I have never heard a bad word about him. But they are not exactly close. And with my father it’s a complicated story.
Ubiraev Sr. is now fighting against Ukraine under contract.
Sibir.Realii found out that he was serving a sentence in the Sverdlovsk colony of IK No. 13 under Article 131 Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - rape. Previously, Vyacheslav Ubiraev repeatedly came to the attention of the police for antisocial behavior - appearing drunk and drinking alcohol in public places, disobeying traffic police officers, living without a passport or registration.
“Zhenya’s father enlisted from the colony to the Wagner PMC in order to be released after the war began in Ukraine,” explains Elena. – Even before Zhenya fled to Armenia, they had a meeting with their father, in 2022. Zhenya lived next to the bus station, from where the military (including former Wagner prisoners) were sent to the front, and his father invited him to meet there. He went and, it seems, according to him, even the meeting went well, despite the fact that they were on opposite sides of the barricades. Still, although he was already an adult, he always said that he missed a father figure in his life. He wanted to make peace with him, at least to achieve a stable neutrality. Then they wrote off, and wrote off when Zhenya was already in Armenia. Father asked Zhenya what you are doing there, he said that I’m trying to make a trip abroad, otherwise I didn’t even have a honeymoon. His father immediately became aggressive, called him a traitor to his homeland and a fugitive, and said that he would bring him back under escort.
Some of Evgeniy’s friends and relatives believe that his father could have informed the security forces about his son’s whereabouts. Others are not so sure. Ubiraev Sr. himself did not answer the editor’s questions on social networks.
“I don’t want to slander a person too much, there is no evidence,” Artem emphasizes. – But here’s what we know for sure: Vyacheslav, without warning, came on a date with Zhenya in the pre-trial detention center at the end of last year. And the conversation there went like this: the father told his son that he should be “put on a chain.” And then he began to threaten Zhenya that when he was freed, he would kill him himself, since Zhenya was a traitor.
Now Evgeniy Ubiraev is still in pre-trial detention center No. 1 in Yekaterinburg, where he celebrated his 29th and 30th birthdays.
“During the appeal, the lawyer hopes to “throw off at least a couple of years,” says Elena. – According to the lawyer, if [the sentence] were shorter, then it would be risky to file an appeal, so that, on the contrary, they wouldn’t lash out. And with such a huge period of time, given that there are no victims, no damage, or aggravating factors in the case... Unfortunately, since the case is under such an article, it will not be dismissed so easily, but at least we hope for some progress.
Evgeniy Ubiraev’s wife and lawyer do not comment on what is happening to him to the media.
How, because of the war, the father was released, and the son received 15 years. History of the Ubiraev family