Administrator of the Telegram channel “Free Lapland” convicted

On May 27, 2026, the Northern Fleet Military Court found 23-year-old student Rafael Mamedov guilty under Art. 275 of the Criminal Code (treason) and part 2 of Art. 205.5 of the Criminal Code (participation in a terrorist organization) and sentenced him to 15 years in prison with the first three years to be served in prison and the remaining term in a maximum security colony.

Mamedov was detained and sent to a pre-trial detention center in the spring of 2025.

The charge was related to his activities as the administrator of the Free Lapland Telegram channel. At the beginning of 2025, this channel was included in the list of terrorist organizations as a structural unit of the Post-Russian Forum of Free States, which was banned on January 11, 2025.

According to the investigation, which Mamedov confirmed in his testimony, on January 19, 2023, he joined the “Free Lapland” Telegram chat, then the administrator contacted him and offered to take on the functions of the sole administrator of the chat, to which Mamedov agreed. The former administrator then left the chat.

As follows from Mamedov’s testimony, on March 6, 2023, Chuvash activist Mikhail Oreshnikov (Mishshi) contacted him. He instructed to post in the Free Lapland channel “information about the recruitment of informants and intelligence officers, the purpose of which was to collect data on military installations of the Russian Federation, mobilized camps, routes of movement of military equipment, information about persons involved in the arrests of oppositionists,” as well as to write and distribute materials “aimed at the decentralization of the Russian Federation” - however, Mamedov, according to him, limited himself to writing texts, and did not involve informants and intelligence officers. The case involves the text published in the channel “Orange Aristocracy. About the Post-Russian Elite".

According to the investigation, in March 2025, Mamedov asked Oreshnikov to join the “Coalition of Indigenous Peoples Alliance” and received approval. On March 4, 2025, Mamedov was added to the Coalition’s closed chat, where, in particular, “interaction with the Right Sector was discussed.”

Further, no later than March 21, 2025, Rafael Mamedov prepared and sent to the “Alliance/Coalition (Indigenous Peoples)” unit of the “Forum of Free States of Post-Russia” the texts “Regional Conflicts” and “Decolonization Strategies”, which were subsequently posted on the alliance website. In the text of “Decolonization Strategies”, violent actions are considered as one of the acceptable tools for achieving secession. We were unable to find the text of the second article.

Initially, Mamedov was only charged with participation in a terrorist organization; the charge of treason was added in May 2026.

It should be noted that the “Free Lapland” channel posted memes, photographs, facts from the history and mythology of the region, as well as posts criticizing the Russian authorities and discussing the need to preserve the cultural identity of the peoples of the northwestern regions of Russia, their union with each other, as well as the alliance with the countries of Northern Europe. At the same time, the channel posted materials not only against “Slavicization”, but also with a pronounced ultra-right orientation - in support of Pan-Nordism and Scandinavian paganism, memes (including reposts) with the symbols “dead head” (Totenkopf) and “black sun”, SS symbols, and portraits of Hitler, a song by the artist P8M8R, a photograph of an inscription on the wall dedicated to the memory of Maxim Martsinkevich (Tesak), etc. p.

Sources

• On May 27, the military court of Severomorsk sentenced Rafael Mamedov to 15 years in prison... // Telegram channel "Freedom for Mamedov". 2026. May 27.
• Mamedov Rafael Ismat ogly // Memorial PZK.
• CASE No. 1-17/2026 // Northern Fleet Military Court. 2026. May 27.