The final statement
‘I will remain calm, because I never taught my friends anything bad. I was not their leader—we were equals and simply friends. I did not falsely accuse anyone. I am not ashamed before the people, both those close to me and strangers, who know our story.’
Kansk is a very small town, but it has many problems. There is poor environmental quality due to forest fires, as well as a lot of trash and dirt. There are problems with stray animals, extreme poverty, and decay, which can be seen in the cityscape, in the houses, the roads, and even in the people. Many people, including some of my acquaintances, live in crumbling homes that the state has abandoned to their fate, while officials and politicians have been making promises to them for years. There are also many problems with healthcare: a shortage of medicines, equipment, and qualified specialists. The crime rate is high. This is the environment in which I grew up.
In the fifth grade, I became deeply interested in studying and started working very hard at school. I excelled in all subjects and wrote the best history assignments in my class. At some point in the sixth grade, however, I became disillusioned with the education system. On certain issues, I would even argue with my teachers, which also contributed to my disappointment in the school system.
In other words, I began to challenge adults and was already trying to defend my own opinions back then.
My grades got worse, but I still enjoyed learning and discovering new things, and my particular interest in history remained. Although I continued attending school and more or less liked going there, my relationships with the administration, teachers, and some students deteriorated significantly in the eighth grade. My homeroom teacher had a personal dislike for me, so she would side with the students I had conflicts with. Even after I enrolled in a polytechnic college, the social counselor there treated me with prejudice, saying that I was causing problems for her.
I had a strong desire to learn new things. I enjoyed learning about physics, chemistry, biology, and famous scientists, and I also watched educational science programs. Over time, I shifted my focus from the exact and technical sciences toward the humanities. I preferred self-education and searched for information online. I watched various channels with interesting approaches to teaching science. One of the more well-known ones was Galileo.
I have spoken many times about how I met the guys. I had known D. since kindergarten, but we only became friends at the beginning of eighth grade. I met B. in February 2020 at an event. I enjoyed talking with them because we shared many common interests, and they understood me.
It hurt me to see people in my country being repressed—civil activists who wished the country well and advocated for its prosperity. I learned about this through unofficial media sources, and I believed what I read. Now, unfortunately, I have personally experienced the despotism of dishonest members of the system. Many people who have faced similar situations, as well as those who are simply tired of living this way and want a different future for their children, began supporting me while I was in pretrial detention, as well as supporting my mother. I am deeply grateful to them, because solidarity and support are extremely important for people who are persecuted for their political views in a supposedly free country.
The first three days after my actual detention were very difficult. My sleep schedule was disrupted, and I was extremely exhausted. I was threatened and subjected to physical force. But I tried to explain everything to them, as can be seen from my statement. I answered their questions about the messages and explained the videos to them. By the way, they added phrases to my statement that I had never said.
Through my own experience, I learned how security service officers and investigators can behave.
I can only imagine what D. and B. went through at that time.
The pressure on me continued afterward—in pretrial detention. While in detention, my eyesight deteriorated significantly. I developed problems with my memory and my weight, and I became easily fatigued. Overall, my physical, mental, and emotional health suffered. I became more anxious and less sociable. It was very hard for me. I came to understand that prison does not reform people or protect them from reoffending. It can simply ruin a person completely.
Our conversations on both VKontakte and Telegram were very extensive, and over time we discussed a wide range of topics there—games, pyrotechnics, politics, and school. Various kinds of jokes would often come up as well.
Besides the three of us, the conversation topics were also influenced by everyone else participating in the group chat: L., who shared instructions on how to make flash-bang grenades, as can be seen from the screenshots leaked online; V., who expressed the most radical views and wrote calls for partisan resistance; and I., who openly encouraged violence. Yet it is us who are being put on trial for these conversations.
Incidentally, these conversations were not really concealed or encrypted, even though some participants expressed concerns about privacy on VKontakte. Nevertheless, we stayed on the platform and continued communicating there, never imagining that our words would later be interpreted this way. We did not express any clear or concrete plans to commit terrorist acts in those conversations.
As for pyrotechnics and explosives, I also did not fully understand the legal implications or the potential consequences. In my private correspondence with P., I had no idea that anyone else would ever read those messages. I was simply expressing my thoughts and concerns. He asked me about weapons and shared his own thoughts, and I helped him look for information. In general, I support easing restrictions on civilian access to weapons for self-defense purposes—that is my personal opinion.
I spoke to him about explosions and pyrotechnics as a personal hobby; I was simply sharing my interests with him, and he, in turn, told me about his own life. I do not remember ever telling him that I was preparing a terrorist attack against the FSB or the Ministry of Internal Affairs, nor would I ever have done such a thing, because those buildings are located in places where innocent people could be harmed.
The conversation that the main witness, P., described in court never actually existed. He invented it in order to receive a suspended sentence. He simply had no other choice. During the trial, he himself stated that he had not deleted anything from the correspondence. Yet the alleged messages no longer exist.
I never told P. that I was planning or preparing to blow anyone up, because I was not planning anything and was not preparing anyone for anything.
In the messages that were actually examined, we were simply discussing whether the people working there were bad people or whether they might be good people who could somehow be persuaded or informed—who might be mistaken, who might think anarchists are dangerous. That was my way of thinking, and that is why I suggested to D. that we put up leaflets about anarchists specifically on the FSB building.
I never imagined that something like this could lead to such consequences. Even now, I do not believe that everyone there is bad, although those who handled my case acted dishonestly. Without truly investigating, and simply to make their jobs easier, they pressured my friends into making confessions. And when they realized that I would not admit to what they wanted me to confess, all the negative character references and accusations from my friends suddenly appeared—meant to break me psychologically and to create the impression for the authorities that I was a bad person who belonged in prison.
For a long time, I could not understand who had provided a negative report about me in my neighborhood, because none of my neighbors had ever complained about me, and I myself had never done anything illegal. It turned out to be the school juvenile affairs inspector. Yet I had never seen him before, either at school or at my home.
After my detention, they also pressured my mother, telling her that she would not be able to afford a private lawyer. They hoped I would not endure it. They kept coming to see me in pretrial detention, saying they wanted to help me. While my mother was unable to visit me immediately after my arrest or bring me anything, they brought me stationery supplies, hinting that she was a bad mother who did not come to see me. One of them even suggested that we write letters to each other and that he would personally deliver them.
They also deliberately denied permission for phone calls and visits with my mother; our numerous requests went unanswered. I was fortunate that the appellate court released me from custody.
As for witness L., I would like to say that he was simply lucky that his grandmother, Nadezhda Kachan—as I learned from the case materials—is a former mayor of Kansk.
If I am given a real prison sentence, I will serve it with a clear conscience and with dignity.
I will remain calm, because I never taught my friends anything bad. I was not their leader—we were equals, and we were simply friends. I did not falsely accuse anyone. I am not ashamed before the people, both close to me and strangers, who know our story. Some may choose to believe the law enforcement authorities rather than me, but I have nothing to be ashamed of. I was never planning to blow anyone up.
It means a great deal to me that strangers supported both me and my mother. I never knew, nor did I imagine, that putting up those leaflets would lead to such unimaginable consequences. We all know how it turned out.
For the last time in this trial, I would like to say: I am not a terrorist, and I am not guilty under Article 205.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
All I wanted was to finish my education, earn a degree, and leave this place—go somewhere far away, so that I would no longer trouble anyone in the security services, and so that I myself could stop living in constant anxiety. I simply want to become a freelancer, or work in some profession related to my field of study.
I ask the court to give me the chance to do that.
The 1st Eastern District Military Court, circuit court session, Kansk, Russia.
February 7, 2022
Source: Novaya Gazeta (‘New Gazette’)
More information: Memorial