The Final Statement
‘But the desperate attempts to stop time by clinging with blue-tinged fingers to one’s seat, to history, to power, and to life itself bring nothing but war, destruction, and oblivion. That is what truly awaits every dictator.’
Your Honour, distinguished participants in these proceedings, all these years I have been speaking, speaking about my innocence, about my interest in politics, and about how it is not a crime, even if my views do not align with Vladimir Putin’s policies. I have spoken about my family, about my mother and grandmother, whom I will never see again. I have spoken about my love for Russia, and I have proved that love through my actions–I did not leave the country only to criticise it from somewhere abroad.
No, I stayed, and I do not regret my choice. However, I have been speaking for four years now, and I am tired. What is the point of talking about leniency, mercy, and understanding? This system does not know these words. What sounds good in a sermon delivered by the Patriarch during yet another PR appearance in front of the cameras at Christmas or Easter is utterly impossible to put into practice when it comes to one’s enemy. After all, for our rulers, faith is more a matter of declaration than something they actually practise.
Far more important is Gorky’s maxim: ‘If the enemy does not surrender, he is destroyed.’
The demand for a ten-year sentence proves that I am considered an enemy. Seriously, there are lawyers with vast experience gathered here. You have heard countless cases. And do you genuinely believe that my guilt has supposedly been proven? By whom, and by what? The case materials?
Where is a single piece of paper documenting any orders I gave or identifying my subordinates? Where is a single testimony that I sent anyone anywhere to do anything? What proves that I am the head of a structural unit of an extremist community? I will not even mention that the so-called ‘extremist community’ does not exist in reality. It is a legal fiction.
All of this is a fig leaf of legality, concealing lies, political repression, and opportunism. An order comes down–carry it out, or the system will grind you to dust. And who wants to lose their privileges–a high salary, immunity, a benefits package?
And so it turns out that people can send innocent individuals to penal colonies simply to preserve their own status. And what is even sadder is that they send young people away–the future of our country. I am the future of our country. And we are the future.
But the insane attempts to stop time, with blue-fingered hands clinging to their chairs, history, power, and life itself, produce nothing but war, destruction, and oblivion. That is what truly awaits every dictator. That is precisely what they fear.
And here is the result: four years of a senseless war, thousands of lives and homes destroyed. Economic, industrial, and cultural backwardness. Isolation. How many widows and orphans are there? How many people left physically and psychologically crippled? I was and remain opposed to this war. It is all the more interesting to watch the authorities evade the prospect of reaching an agreement through negotiations. In the end, the war will end, and the future will show that I was right, unfortunately.
Perhaps the only serious mistake I am willing to acknowledge along my path is my testimony given during the investigation, of course. I have spoken about this publicly more than once, and I want to put the matter to rest.
I believed that the investigators would show some flexibility and use my case to demonstrate that another path was possible. Of course, I wanted to go home to my family. I knew that my arrest had hit them very hard. But investigators do not know how to think strategically. And yet, if we set ideological constraints aside, how simple it would have been! Hundreds of people would have seen that there was a path they could take to secure house arrest. And for the court, it would have been even simpler. A confession is, after all, the queen of evidence.
However, the investigators showed no such flexibility, and I began to realise almost immediately what a foolish thing I had done–believed that I would be shown some leniency. After all, in January 2024 and May 2024, the investigators could have–and I insist that they could have–shown some basic human understanding and arranged for me to attend my mother’s and grandmother’s farewells.
I know of precedents for this. But no, there is no trace of humanity when it comes to an enemy.
Of course, Your Honour, you will think that I am trying to evade responsibility in this way. That is not the point, naturally. I am retracting my testimony because I was taught not to lie. If I had genuinely wanted to evade this so-called responsibility, I would not have confessed during the investigation only to admit everything again in court.
Although, once again, what responsibility can there be in a case that is entirely politically motivated? What mercy? It is a foreign concept to the state that Vladimir Putin has been methodically building all these years. And the court will agree with everything the prosecution has said and everything the investigators have written in their report. The Investigative Committee would never talk nonsense, if we are to believe the case materials.
But something inside me very much wants me to utter the following words: conscience, moral duty, or perhaps a motto that has always been close to my heart: ‘Let us build bridges, not walls.’
Therefore, I forgive you, Your Honour, and you, representatives of the prosecution. I forgive the investigators, the operatives, and the judges in other courts. I forgive everyone who has deliberately or inadvertently caused me harm. For everything that has been said or done. For all the evil, hatred, and hypocrisy. I forgive everyone in memory of my mother and grandmother. I hope that now I will be able to move on with my life. Of course, I will remember, but without pain–with gratitude instead.
And yes, someone might say that forgiving those who do not repent of their wrongdoing only makes it worse. Perhaps. But perhaps the opposite is also true. All that hatred, anger, resentment, the desire to humiliate others as much as possible, and the lies stem from the unforgiveness in which we live. I have always regarded forgiveness as a kind of vaccination against hatred, and I still do.
That is why I am ready to forgive. How much longer can we live in hatred in our country? How many more deaths, how much more pain and division will it take for us to understand? If you do not take the first step towards eradicating evil, no one will. And this difficult road, full of mistakes and requiring extraordinary effort, begins with my first step. But it is worth it. Are you ready to take yours?
I caution against the false assumption that forgiveness absolves anyone of responsibility–there will still be accountability. However, I believe that forgiveness can help us understand the reasons behind what is happening–why it is happening and what purpose it serves. By cleansing ourselves of centuries-old evil and learning to treat one another with understanding, we can finally find love.
I believe that this is possible in Russia and even inevitable. Spring is inevitable. The season, of course. What did you think I meant?
Before concluding my final statement, I would like to express my gratitude. Thank you to my dear wife, who has been by my side throughout all this time. I know how tired you are, but I believe everything will be all right because I have you. Thank you to my family for supporting me despite my sometimes appalling character. I will return.
Thank you to my lawyers, who have provided me with legal and, at times, psychological support throughout this long journey. Thank you, Anastasia Vladimirovna, for your professionalism, sense of responsibility, refinement, and taste in good poetry. To Anastasia Vladimirovna’s colleagues, thank you all for your solidarity and kind words as well.
Anna, Yan, Vasily, Pavel, my colleagues, thank you for your advice, conversations, and patience–especially with my talkativeness and loud voice. Valentin, thank you for once again showing me how important it is to preserve things, how truly important it is…
Your Honour, and you, the state prosecutor, thank you as well for the character-building experience. I am sure it will come in handy. To everyone who was present in the courtroom and everyone who followed the proceedings online, thank you for being there and for your support. It matters when people do not forget. And thank you to the escort officers and court bailiffs for your professionalism.
And finally, once, right at the beginning of the case, an operative assigned to it told me that he was doing all this for a purpose that was very close to my heart and easy for me to understand: so that bombs would not fall on his fellow citizens, so that his children could go to school safely, so that people could generally live in peace. At the time, it did not even occur to me to ask him how my arrest would affect any of this or bring those goals any closer.
Now I am addressing you, Your Honour. Four years of war lie behind us, almost four of which I have spent under criminal prosecution. And you know what I have been through. Do I really deserve ten years in a general-regime penal colony? Will my conviction really change anything in society? Is it truly necessary to separate me from my family and friends? Nevertheless, Your Honour, do your job. I have done mine.
25 February 2026.
St Petersburg City Court, St Petersburg, Russia.
Source: Mediazona.
More information about the case: Memorial.
Photo: Sota.