The sentence of two Astrakhan teenagers in the case of sabotage has caused a dispute on social media.
The sentence of the Astrakhan Regional Court handed down to a schoolboy and a first-year student for treason and sabotage has sparked discussion among Instagram users.
"Caucasian Knot" also reported that the appellate court upheld the sentence of a Russian and Swedish citizen Maxim Artemov, who will spend 14 years in a strict regime colony.
In the southern regions of Russia, after the start of large-scale hostilities in Ukraine, there have been repeated arsons of military enlistment offices and relay cabinets on the railway. In criminal cases, the same wording often appears: allegedly "unidentified persons" are forcing teenagers or young people to film the arsons and then send them to the "customer." This narrative in a large number of criminal cases indicates that investigators found a simple way to prove crimes, noted earlier candidate of legal sciences Roman Melnychenko.
The Astrakhan Regional Court sentenced a schoolboy and a college student born in 2008 to nine and a half years in a general regime colony and six and a half years in a juvenile colony, respectively.
"Two residents of Astrakhan - a 10th-grade student of a general education school, a native of the Astrakhan region born in 2008, and a first-year college student, a native of the Krasnodar region born in 2008, - were found guilty under Article 275, Part 1 of Article 281, paragraph "a". Part 2 of Article 281 of the Criminal Code of Russia (treason, sabotage, committing arson by a group of persons by prior agreement). The schoolboy was sentenced to 9 years and 6 months in prison in a general regime colony and confiscation of funds in the amount of 17,150 rubles, while the first-year student was sentenced to 6 years and 6 months in a juvenile colony," TASS quoted the press service of the FSB of Russia for the Astrakhan region.
According to the prosecution, in 2025, the young men established contact via Telegram with a representative of the Ukrainian special services, who offered them a reward of 14,000 rubles to set fire to telecommunications infrastructure facilities in Astrakhan. They set fire to two infrastructure facilities using flammable liquid. The case materials also state that the teenagers filmed railway trains at the Astrakhan-2 station at the curator's request for subsequent sabotage.
The FSB press service also published footage of the teenagers being detained by security forces. It shows how the sleeping schoolboy and student are awakened and taken away by representatives of the special services.
Recall that the court sentenced Denis Popov to 25 years in prison in the case of treason. According to the court, he transmitted information about military ships in Novorossiysk.