A married couple from Makhachkala was convicted in absentia for raising money for drones for the Azov Battalion*.

The Southern District Military Court sentenced Nadezhda and Dmitry Valuev, a married couple from Makhachkala, in absentia to 17 and 18 years in prison for raising funds abroad to purchase drones for the Azov* nationalist battalion.

According to investigators, on February 24, 2022, the Valuevs, who are located outside of the Russian Federation, decided to transfer funds to members of the Ukrainian paramilitary nationalist group Azov*.

To this end, the defendants created foreign non-profit non-governmental organizations on October 16, 2022, and January 12, 2023. The purpose of these organizations was to support Ukraine's actions against the Russian Federation. According to investigators, the Valuevs planned to unite Russians living in the United States to organize protests against a special military operation and raise funds for Ukrainian paramilitary forces, the military court's press service reported today on its VKontakte page.

Dmitry and Nadezhda Valuev also created corresponding publicly accessible online channels.

Further, on January 5, 2024, the defendants posted on their channel about organizing a fundraiser for at least $12,500 to purchase drones for the Azov Battalion*. After collecting the funds, they handed them over to battalion members.

According to the court's verdict, the defendants were found guilty of assisting terrorist activity . Dmitry Valuev was sentenced to 18 years in a maximum-security penal colony, with the first three years to be served in prison, and Nadezhda Valueva to 17 years in a general-regime penal colony.

The sentence has not yet entered into legal force and can be appealed by the parties to the Military Court of Appeals, the court's press service clarified.

According to information in the register of extremists and terrorists, Dmitry and Nadezhda Valuev are originally from Makhachkala; they were added to the register on May 27, 2025.

"Caucasian Knot" also reported that a court in Makhachkala fined a local resident for failing to report four acquaintances, whom security officials accused of intending to set fire to a military unit in Makhachkala in the interests of the Ukrainian Azov Regiment*.

* Designated a terrorist organization, its activities banned in Russia by decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

** Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) is banned in Russia.