Oleksandr Mukhin

A shooter. He served in the Azov Regiment from September 2017 to November 2018. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison.

The case originally involved 24 defendants. All of them had served in Azov at different times and in different roles. Many had never handled weapons or had left the military long before the war began. All are charged with the violent seizure of power (Part 4 of Article 35 and Article 278 of the Criminal Code) and with organizing the activities of a terrorist organization (Part 1 of Article 205.5). Some of the defendants are also accused of undergoing training for terrorist activity (Article 205.3). The prosecution requested sentences ranging from 16 to 24 years in prison, and all men are to serve their terms in high-security colonies. Two Ukrainian servicemen, Davyd Kasatkin and Dmytro Labynsky, were exchanged before the trial started. Oleksandr Ishchenko died in pre-trial detention. In September, nine Ukrainian women who had served in Azov, including eight cooks and a supply clerk, returned home in a prisoner exchange. Those defendants who were exchanged continue to be tried in absentia in Russia.

2020s

Cases of justifying terrorism Cases of terrorism

Reading time: 7 minutes.

The final statement

‘At the time I served, those territories, the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), were officially part of Ukraine. Russia did not deny that.‘

There is so much I would like to say. I apologize if I sound harsh—just try to understand me: when you’re accused of something you didn’t do, and couldn’t have done… You are not a terrorist; you, that is, I, once served as a member of the Ukrainian army. I never committed any terrorist acts, never trained for them, never dealt with explosives or anything like that. I simply don’t know how; I was never taught.

I went through regular basic training, like any other soldier in any unit, whether the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard, or Russia’s Rosgvardiya. Just basic military training—a standard boot camp.

As for overthrowing the government, that’s utterly absurd. I’m a former serviceman, first of all. I was discharged in 2018 at my own request. I left the service of my own free will.

Here’s the core of it: what I was supposed to do, what I actually did, was guard duty. It was called Anti‑landing Defense (ADO), and that’s all. It was regular guard duty that I performed for almost three years. The current commander of that unit, as far as we know, isn’t charged with anything like ‘overthrowing the government.’ So I don’t understand—without the commander’s knowledge, was I somehow planning a coup? It just doesn’t make any sense, honestly.

At the time I served, those territories—the DPR and LPR—were officially part of Ukraine. Russia did not deny that. In fact, Russia’s rhetoric at the time emphasized that this was Ukrainian territory and that a civil war was taking place there. These areas were incorporated into Russia only in 2022. By that time, I was already in prison, in Pre-Trial Detention Center No. 1 in Donetsk, where I had already been held for about six months before the DPR and LPR were officially declared part of the Russian Federation. So which government exactly was I supposed to be overthrowing? I just don’t understand.

As for the ‘terrorist organization’ accusation, same thing. When your (Russian) government passed the law labeling this particular National Guard unit as a terrorist organization, I was no longer an active serviceman. I had already been discharged for three years.

I was a civilian, living a civilian life. I lived, I worked, I was not involved in anything remotely like terrorism. In Ukraine, I didn’t have even a single administrative violation—not even a fine for smoking in a restricted area or drinking alcohol in public. Nothing.

Then one day, at home in Mariupol, it all happened very suddenly: the war. Some people stormed into the house, beat me up, put a bag over my head, and took me away. This happened on either 20 or 21 March.

Later, I officially ‘turned up’ at Pre-Trial Detention Center No. 1 in Donetsk. I was brought there on either 7 or 8 April. No one really seems to care what happened to me during that gap—from 20 March to 8 April 2022. And I myself don’t really know where I was—the bag never came off my head.

As for what I signed, honestly, I have no idea what I was signing. They told me: ‘Sign it, everything will be fine, Sanya. Just sign it. You see, we’re going easy on you; otherwise, you know what could happen.’ I said, ‘I know. I’ll sign.’ ‘And in court, just say you didn’t do it—because you didn’t, right?’ they told me. ‘I didn’t do it.’ ‘Well, then that’s what you say.’

Laughter in the courtroom

I’m not trying to play to the audience here, not at all. I’m not amused, I’m not laughing. Like I said, deep down, I still can’t believe this has actually been happening to me for three years, or even longer. With every fiber of my being, I reject this. I cannot understand or accept it, especially: what am I being punished for? I didn’t do any of it. Yes, I served in the army. I gave it a try, honestly, I didn’t like it, so I left. The military life—the duties, the regulations, the marching—it’s just not for me.

Again, I didn’t commit any terrorist acts, nor did I ever plan to. I didn’t try to overthrow any government—the Russian government. How could I have tried to do that in 2019? What, behind my commander’s back? What would that even look like? The commander calls: ‘Mukhin, why aren’t you on duty?’ ‘Oh, I was off overthrowing the Russian government.’ ‘Why aren’t you at your post?’ ‘I was somewhere in Donetsk.’

They would have just discharged me on mental health grounds—said I was unstable, not sane. No sane person would ever say such a thing out loud.

Now I’m facing a huge sentence—and again, I don’t understand why. And there’s no real evidence either. Some documents, internet sources… I had one social media account, with five or six photos at most: my daughter at the park, me at the gym, normal, neutral stuff. But apparently they managed to interpret things as if I was planning to overthrow the government, planning terrorist acts, and somehow got trained. I don’t get it. This is all completely fabricated, falsified, in my opinion, to the point of absurdity.

Once again, I’ve never had problems with the law. I always tried to live like a law-abiding citizen. But even if someone steals a wallet from an old lady, there’s supposed to be a proper process: questioning witnesses, identifying suspects. You can’t just call someone a thief who wanted to rob a grandmother. But apparently it’s much easier to dress someone up as a terrorist, an insurrectionist. No need for evidence. Just four letters—the name of the unit: ‘Azov.’

But again, I didn’t sign a contract with ‘Azov.’ I signed it with the National Guard, supposedly a regular military force. ‘Azov’ was a regular unit within the National Guard of Ukraine.

The ‘Azov’ people talk about from 2014—I wasn’t part of that. That was a volunteer battalion back then, not affiliated with anyone. I don’t know who was in it; it was a different formation. I served in the Azov Regiment of military unit 3057 of the National Guard—the one I had a contract with. I was assigned to Azov to serve under contract, and I wasn’t trained in anything terrorist-related. I carried a weapon, but how is that terrorism? A serviceman must be at least minimally trained in how to use his assigned weapon, the one listed in your military ID. That’s standard. That training took place in the unit.

Unlike the evidence of my supposed guilt, the documentation of where I served, when I signed the contract, what rank and role I had—all that does exist. They found that information, showed me photocopies of my military ID, my credentials. These details are part of my file, and I find nothing remotely terrorist in them—I was a regular soldier.

What else? About the accusation of ‘Russophobia’—I was born in Mariupol, a Russian-speaking city. I’ve spoken Russian fluently all my life. So have my family. So have my friends. How can I be accused of criticizing or persecuting people for speaking Russian when I myself am Russian-speaking? Does that make any sense?

I do not plead guilty. I do not admit guilt. Yes, I served. Yes, I was a soldier. Then I left the army. How am I a terrorist?

Southern District Military Court, Rostov-on-Don, Russia

19 March 2025

Source: Mediazona

More about the case: Memorial

Photo: Alexandra Astakhova/Memorial