Russia

Other Defendants in the Antifa United Case Receive 2.5 and 3.5 Years.

Judge Ekaterina Stepina of the Izmailovsky District Court of Moscow delivered a verdict to three antifascists in the case of Antifa United, which law enforcement agencies—and now the court as well—consider an “extremist community.”

On February 8, Danil Chertykov turns 32 years old. He is celebrating his birthday in captivity for 4th time.

Danil Chertykov is an anarchist and antifascist from Yekaterinburg. He worked as a veterinarian, and in his free time devoted himself to music, playing guitar in the riot-folk band Rocker Balboa.

Anton is currently being held at Detention Center No. 1 (SIZO-1) in Irkutsk. He needs qualified legal assistance in order to challenge the verdict of the Second District Military Court, which in October sentenced him to six years in prison over two comments posted on Telegram.

Anton left the first comment in the Telegram channel “Irkutsk Blog” in July 2024. Under a post about Governor Igor Kobzev, who considers spending on the war to be a higher priority than repairing schools, Anton wrote:

In less than two months, you have donated 235,000 rubles (2600 euros) for Ruslan Sidiki’s legal defense. We have already paid the lawyer’s fees for November and December, and the remaining amount will cover expenses through the end of February.

The lawsuit was filed by the acting prosecutor of Zabaykalsky Krai, Stanislav Nemtsov. The defendants were Chita-based anarchists Aleksandr Snezhkov and Lyubov Lizunova. According to their support group, they were declared the “leaders” of the association. Anarchists took part in the court hearing on January 20 via video link.

According to the support group, Irina Viktorovna's date with Anton took place on December 3. According to her, his condition is "more or less ok" and much better than during the last meeting. In November, when she first visited Anton after his sentence, he did not smiled once.

He is turning 28. Alexey Rozhkov is an anarchist from the city of Berezovsky in the Sverdlovsk region. He was involved in punk music, previously played bass in the band Tell Me the Reason, and was interested in existentialist philosophy.

He is turning 29. Alexey is a musician from Novotroitsk in Russia’s Orenburg region. In his youth, he wanted to become a soldier, and after an unsuccessful attempt to enroll in an airborne military school, he voluntarily went to serve his compulsory military service. During that time, his views evolved first toward Marxism, and later he came to identify himself as an anarchist.

Anarchist Ruslan Sidiki remains in detention — and we continue to support him. Right now we need to raise 200,000 rubles to pay for his lawyer’s work for the next three months. When someone is held in a pre-trial detention center (SIZO), this is the most expensive period to provide support. At the same time, it’s also when there are more opportunities — for the defense, regular lawyer visits, and filing appeals.

This text is a collective statement of Russian-speaking anarchist collectives (see the list of signatories below). It should have been published even earlier, but now it’s really the time for a consolidated statement about the war in Ukraine. We do not claim to represent the stance of each and every anarchist from Russia, but the need for a clear position, and contradictions associated with the war in Ukraine lead to the necessity to act as a united movement.

Anton Kalakin is known as Anton 69 in the Irkutsk punk community. He works odd jobs: most recently, he worked as a security guard and repaired boats. He participated in solidarity events, attended punk concerts, helped homeless animals, was interested in local history, and ran a public page about the history of Irkutsk. He lived with his mother.

Former political prisoner and anarchist Ilya Romanov is in need of our help. After 20 years of imprisonment in Ukraine and Russia, a stroke, and numerous surgeries, he remains severely disabled — yet he refuses to give up. Ilya continues to paint, stay in touch with friends, and keeps his sharp mind and sense of humor.

On October 22, 2025, the Second District Military Court in Chita will start hearing a new criminal case against anarchist Alexander Snezhkov. This time, he is charged under of “Public calls for terrorist activity, public justification, or propaganda of terrorism.” The article carries a penalty of up to 500,000 rubles (circa 5000 euros) in fines or two to five years in prison.

The Anarchist Black Cross of Moscow has received information that Dmitry Osyagin does not identify himself as an anarchist or an anti-fascist — he considers himself an anti-war democrat. The reason why the security services attributed to him participation in the “Combat Organization of Anarcho-Communists” (BOAK) is currently unknown. It may be due to the authorities’ desperation to announce the arrest of at least one member of this elusive underground organization.

Anarchist Ruslan Sidiki, who was sentenced to 29 years in prison over two sabotage actions against the Russian war machine, openly stated that he contacted Ukrainian military intelligence in order to organize an attack on the Russian air base in Dyagilevo, where strategic bombers are stationed. In published letters he explained his motive:

Anarcho-syndicalist from Ufa Kirill Bobrov has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for participating in the arson of the United Russia party office and for creating an "extremist community" in 2012. The criminal case over the arson was opened 13 years ago. Kirill left the country at that time, but in 2023 he returned to Russia for personal reasons and was arrested right at the airport.

Upd. Cancellation of the concert in support of Ruslan Sidiki. Fires of freedom launches an urgent fundraiser

This Saturday, September 13, Berlin will host a concert in support of Ruslan Sidiki - a Russian anarchist sentenced to 29 years in prison for anti-war guerrilla activities. In 2023 Ruslan staged a drone attack on a military airfield and undermined railroad tracks used for military purposes - 19 freight cars derailed.

On September 5, anarchist Kirill Bobrov celebrates his birthday. He turns 35. 

Kirill is an anarchist from Ufa who participated in the activities of the Revolutionary Union of Free People “Justice.” In 2011–2012, this group posted videos online showing arson attacks on administrative buildings and called for struggle against the state.

Antifascist Bogdan Yakimenko was arrested on June 5, 2024, in Rostov-on-Don in connection with the Antifa United case, which the authorities declared an extremist organization. Pro-government channels call Yakimenko its organizer.

Anarchist and anti-war activist Dmitry Osyagin from Kazan has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for setting fire to a court building. He was charged under three articles: calling for "extremism", "terrorism" and committing a “terrorist act” .