Russia Sentences Crimean to 14 Years on ‘Treason’ Charges

Russia on Friday sentenced a Crimean man to 14 years in a penal colony on treason charges after it accused him of aiding the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU).

Moscow regularly sentences people in Crimea it accuses of working for Ukraine or of criticizing Russia’s military offensive and has orchestrated a massive crackdown.

Russian media said the FSB security service had accused 47-year-old Igor Kopyl -- a resident of Sevastopol, the Crimean port where Russia’s Black Sea Fleet [was] based -- of assisting Kyiv’s armed forces and preparing a “terrorist” attack.

Moscow illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.

Eight years later, in 2022, it attacked Ukraine from several axes, including from the peninsula.

The FSB security service said Kopyl was a former member of the Ukrainian Naval Forces and had been recruited by Kyiv in 2022, several months into Russia’s offensive.

It alleged he had transferred information to the Ukrainian authorities about Russian ships, air defense and military equipment.

The FSB also accused Kopyl of receiving a parcel containing explosives that were intended for use in a “terrorist act.”

Anti-draft protest

Kyiv has launched attacks on annexed Crimea throughout Moscow’s offensive, including major ones on the Black Sea Fleet.

Separately, Russia also opened a criminal case against a street sweeper in the Urals who supported a man imprisoned for an arson attack on an army draft office, rights groups reported on Friday.

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Investigators accused the woman, Gulnara Bakhareva, of “justifying terrorism”.

According to rights group Perviy Otdel, Bakhareva wrote “I am proud” under a birthday post for Alexei Nuriyev, who was sentenced to 19 years for throwing Molotov cocktails at an enlistment building during an anti-mobilization protest.   

Bakhareva lives in the small town of Satka in the Chelyabinsk region -- a short drive from Bakal, where Nuriyev carried out the arson attack -- Perviy Otdel said. 

It said she had already been fined last year for comments on Ukraine’s attack on Russia’s Crimea bridge.  

The new charges carry up to five years in prison.