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At the end of May, anarchist Alexey Rozhkov was illegally extradited from Kyrgyzstan to Russia. Without observing the procedures under Kyrgyz law and international norms, officers from the Kyrgyz State Committee for National Security kidnapped Alexey and took him to the Russian Federation, where he was detained by FSB officers. The former threatened Alexei with torture, and the FSB put those threats into action — the young man told us that he had been tasered.

Dear friends, welcome to our latest update!

This is long overdue. As usual, we start with (relatively) good news. Krasnoyarsk anarchists Danil Ivanov and Ilya Vinogradov were given 5 and 3.5 years probational sentences respectively. They were accused of ”robbery”, for paying a visit to a former comrade who had been seen hanging out with Nazis. Congratulations to Danil and Ilya for dodging prison!
 

“In our last meeting with Azat Miftakhov it was decided to write about the pressure security forces exert on Azat, previously not brought up by the support group – reports the channel FreeAzat! We were not doing it because at the beginning of his incarceration, we heard about Azat’s unwillingness to disclose this topic – back when it was too sensitive for him. Later in the penal colony, at his suggestion, we wanted to reserve the topic in case the administration uses pressure on prisoners with (political) status."

On May 29, anti-war activist Alexey Rozhkov, who had fled from Russia to Kyrgyzstan, was extending his temporary registration in his host country. And the very next day, early in the morning, security forces broke into his home. On June 7, lawyer Kamil Isabekov visited Alexey Rozhkov in a temporary detention center in the suburbs of Yekaterinburg (the largest city in the Urals) to find out the circumstances of his transfer to Russia.  Anti-war human rights initiative Solidarity Zone wrote about it.

18-year-old Mikhail Lazakovich from Tver, was detained on May 9 on suspicion of setting fire to a military recruitment center in Likhoslavl, 50 km from Tver. On the advice of his appointed lawyer, the young man did not deny his involvement in the arson. However, instead of the promised mitigation of punishment, the charge was reclassified from "attempted damage to property" to "an act of terrorism". 

After being charged under the "terrorist" article (Part 1 of Article 205 of the Russian Criminal Code), Mikhail refused to testify and plead guilty of terrorism.

Sometimes you’ll hear people say that in modern Russia, it’s a waste of money to hire a lawyer for politically motivated cases. After all, they say, the person will be found guilty either way, and they’ll still get a sentence.

Solidarity Zone explain why having a lawyer is vital for political prisoners in Russia.

The antifascist movement emerged in Russia in the late 1990s – early 2000s as a response to neo-Nazis’ violence: back then, the far-right was attacking migrants, homeless people, punks and anyone they didn’t like almost daily. Over the past couple of decades, the movement has changed significantly, having gone through murders of its participants, numerous criminal cases and now a split due to the war. Radio Svoboda (RS)  recounts the story of Russian antifa.

Kirill Butylin carried out the first known arson attack on a military enlistment office following the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. On 28th of  February 2022 the young man threw Molotov cocktails at the enlistment office in the town of Lukhovitsa in the Moscow region.

On the 4th of January 2023 32 year old Yaroslav Vilchevski was arrested for posting on his telegram channel about the anarchist Mikhail Zhobitski. Radio Liberty has called him an anarchist, but himself he is identifying himself as animal rights activist and musician. Radio Liberty has quoted some of his comments, and he has also criticized the mass mobilization when it was announced in Russia.

This update was provided by ABC-Moscow for German Das Antifaschistische Infoblatt issue 138. This version has some minor updates with numbers mentioned. 

“Solidarity Zone” is a project that helps people repressed for anti-war resistance. Altleft talked to activists of the project about solidarity in the Russian society, forms of protest and the prospects of the end of the war. Questions were answered by participants that work in Russia.

Yegor Balazeikin is sixteen years old.

Fundraiser for continuing Viktor “Vitya” Filinkov’s campaign against the FSIN, the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service!

I haven’t written here for a long time generally and about Vitya in particular. We haven’t seen each other for almost two months. That’s an awfully long time, and I miss him terribly. Soon I will fly back to Orenburg and tell you how Vitya is doing, but after meeting with him.

On the night of October 11, 2022, fire was set to the administration office of the town of Bakal in Chelyabinsk region with Molotov cocktails. The building housed a military registration office.

On the same day, Roman Nasryev and Alexey Nuriev were detained on suspicion of arson. At first they were accused of "destruction or damage to property", but the FSB took over the case and the charges were reclassified to "terrorist act". Later an article on "training for the purpose of terrorist activity" was added to the charges.

The photo shows Nasryev on the left.

Kirill has been transferred to a remand prison in Tyumen. Support group sent a lawyer to discuss with him, but a letter of refusal was passed to lawyer 7th of March. Refusal was in handwriting of Kirill Brik, but we do not know in which conditions the letter has been signed, and there is no proof that Kirill is currently not being tortured.

Please call to remand prison of Tyumen, this way they will know that we are watching how they plan to treat Kirill:: +73452507104

Throughout February, like the previous months, we worked day in and day out, covering the persecution and providing support for those accused of anti-war activities. We were so immersed in work that we did not notice how the shortest month of the year ended. And now, with a little delay, we rush to tell you about the results of February.

In February, the participants of Solidarity Zone:

Hi everyone! Today is Friday, 6th of January, a day when all the New Year’s salads are already eaten, and we continue our podcast of trends of order and chaos”. This is episode 87. These are the main topics on past two weeks’ (due to New Year) agenda.

Festival program is now published. 
 

After Russia invaded Ukraine on the 24th of February, the anti-war movement spread to every corner of the country with demonstrations and direct actions. During the first 3 months of the war, more than 16,000 people were detained in the daily demonstrations. Many got immediate, short prison sentences without due process, as well as fines, and several felony cases were also opened. As demonstrating has become ingreasingly difficult, more people have begun relying on direct action as their tactic, such as arson attacks against military draft centers and railway sabotage actions.

Dear friends, welcome to our latest update!