In Moscow, Omsk residents Vladimir Sergeev and Anton Zhuchkov were convicted under an article on “preparing for a terrorist attack”. They were accused of planning to set fire to empty paddy wagons on Pushkin Square during an anti-war rally. Zhuchkov received 10, and Sergeev – 8 years in prison.
The men were detained on March 6, 2022, on their way to a protest against Russia's attack on Ukraine. Sergeyev was found with a bottle of kerosene, a gas cylinder and flails. During the arrest, Zhuchkov and Sergeev took lethal doses of methadone, so instead of the police department they were taken to the Research Institute. Sklifosofsky, where they spent almost a week in a coma. After the hospital, the men were sent to a pre-trial detention center.
FSB officers came to Sergeev in the pre-trial detention center and interrogated him without a lawyer. As a result, he confessed that he and Zhuchkov planned to set fire to the paddy wagons. However, his lawyer later stated that this testimony was given under duress.
According to Zhuchkov's testimony, he had no intention of harming anyone but himself. He was going to commit suicide "so as not to see what is happening in the world." His decision was also influenced by the fear of nuclear war and the fear that "youth will live in poverty".
In the last word, Zhuchkov repeated that he was not aware and was not going to set fire to the paddy wagons, and also did not sell methadone. Sergeev said that he did not repent of his act.
As a result, Zhuchkov and Sergeev were convicted under the article on "preparation for a terrorist attack." Sergeev will spend 3 years in prison, and the rest of the term in a strict regime colony. Zhuchkov, in addition to the terrorist article, added an article about the "sale of narcotic substances." He was also given a 3-year prison term, after which he would have to spend 7 years in a colony.
On January 31, 2023, cases in Russia convicted a man for the first time for setting fire to a military enlistment office. According to investigators, it was carried out on May 4, 2022 in Nizhnevartovsk by Vladislav Borisenko and Vasily Gavrilishen. Borisenko received 12 imprisonment under the criminal article "terrorist act".