‘I wanted to fight this horror’ The growing number of Russian teenagers going to prison on sabotage charges

Since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, Russian schoolchildren have increasingly found themselves behind bars on charges of sabotage for allegedly damaging buildings or transportation infrastructure. At least 20 Russians between the ages of 15 and 17 are currently in prison awaiting trial or serving sentences for these offenses. Many of them are from the regions along the Trans-Siberian Railway, which Moscow uses to transport military equipment and ammunition west. In English, Meduza shares key points from a new report on these minors from the independent outlet People of Baikal.

According to data compiled by Mediazona, approximately one third of the 66 people arrested in late 2022 and early 2023 for alleged sabotage attacks on Russian railroads were minors. Sentences for this offense can range from 10 to 20 years in prison, but if there are aggravating circumstances, the penalty can be as severe as a life sentence. Typically, the details of these cases are classified or published with the defendant’s name redacted.

Russia’s Federal Financial Monitoring Service records the names of all citizens charged with terrorism, sabotage, or extremism in its public registry of “terrorists and extremists.” The appearance of a person’s name on the registry, however, doesn’t necessarily mean they’re in prison; it can also mean they’re under investigation, received a fine, or were sentenced to probation.

The “extremists” list currently contains 54 seventeen-year-olds, 21 sixteen-year-olds, and 13 fifteen-year-olds. At least 20 teenagers have been added to the list in 2024 so far. Its youngest member is Gleb Sinitsyn, a 14-year-old from the city of Ivanovo.

‘Out of desperation’

Maksim Makhnev from the town of Ust-Ilimsk turned 18 just a few weeks ago. The reason for his addition to Russia’s federal “extremists and terrorists” list is unclear. He’s one of numerous Russian teenagers who have spent their 18th birthdays in prison.

Among the others is 19-year-old Ilya Podkamenny, who managed to stop a freight train in the Irkutsk region in November 2022 by wrapping copper wire around the tracks. The train engineer found leaflets at the scene that read “Death to Russkies, freedom to Siberia” and “Putinists will hang from the trees instead of leaves, death to Putin the fascist.” According to state investigators, the engineer “became instantly vigilant and returned to the train to get a hammer to protect himself and his assistant in case of an attack.”

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It took seven months for the authorities to identify Podkamenny as the perpetrator: he didn’t leave any fingerprints, there were no surveillance cameras in the area, and a police dog was unable to track him by his scent. Investigators recovered some DNA from the leaflets and wire, but it was too little to determine his identity. Eventually, they decided to search the phrases from the flyers online, which led them to a Telegram channel called “Siberian Liberation Movement — Republic of Siberia.” Podkamenny was one of the channel’s two administrators. Five days later, he was arrested.

Even after they found his Telegram channel, it’s unclear how the investigators were able to identify Podkamenny; according to him, his account was registered to an anonymous Estonian SIM card.

Podkamenny was initially put on house arrest, but after he was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, he engaged in self-harm, after which he was sent to pre-trial detention. Eventually, he was charged with preparing and organizing a terrorist attack. According to investigators, he planned to commit arson twice: first at a railway relay cabinet and then at a military enlistment office. Podkamenny had twice prepared incendiary mixtures at home, but his mother found both of them and threw them away.

In the fall of 2023, Podkamenny was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He pleaded guilty to the charges against him. In a letter to Mediazona, he said his actions were motivated by desperation and a desire to fight against the “encroaching darkness.” “I think all this insanity will be over by 2025, and I’ll definitely be freed,” he added. He said his dream is to move to Texas and make a cartoon about anthropomorphic jaguars.

The other administrator of the “Siberian Liberation Movement” channel, 17-year-old Oleg Beryozin from the Zabaykalsky region, was arrested at the same time as Podkamenny and sentenced to compulsory psychiatric treatment. The case had a third defendant as well: a 20-year-old named Danil Tomshin who was subscribed to Beryozin and Podkamenny’s channel. He hanged himself before his trial.

‘For a monetary reward’

Also on the list of minors convicted for sabotage is a 15-year-old from Siberia's Tyumen region whose father fought in Ukraine. The boy lived with his mother and his stepdad; the day before his arrest, his father came back to town on leave. According to investigators, on February 23, 2023, the teenager took a Molotov cocktail and a lighter and headed toward a military enlistment office. On the way there, however, he was apprehended by FSB officers. An unnamed source alleged that the boy was offered a monetary reward for the arson attack, though he had previously expressed opposition to the war on social media. He was initially put on house arrest, but later ordered to undergo compulsory psychiatric treatment.

In November 2023, three more minors were arrested in the Tyumen region, including another 15-year-old. Investigators allege the teenagers tried to set three railway relay cabinets on fire. The two older ones were sent to remand prison while their case was being investigated, and the youngest was put in a juvenile detention center. “The arsonists acted under the orders of individuals whom they met on social media and who promised to pay them a monetary reward for committing illegal actions,” alleged the Investigative Committee.

In the spring of 2023, three teenagers were arrested in the Novosibirsk region: 18-year-old Kirill Veselov and two minors listed in open records as Pavel S. and Savely R. All three were charged with committing arson attacks on railway relay cabinets. Investigators allege that unknown individuals paid the defendants 10,000 rubles ($112) each for the attack. Around the same time, police arrested an 18-year-old from Novosibirsk named Viktor Skorobogatov for setting an Su-24 attack aircraft on fire. Eventually, investigators combined the two cases and declared the four teenagers members of an organized crime group.

In September of the same year, police in Novosibirsk arrested a 17-year-old college student for allegedly damaging one relay cabinet by force and setting another on fire the following day.

Five months earlier, a 16-year-old was arrested in the Kemerovo region on suspicion of setting two relay cabinets on fire. And that summer, three more teenagers were arrested for the same crime in the Krasnodar region.

Also in the Krasnodar region, a 17-year-old was arrested and sent to remand prison after purchasing materials for a homemade bomb online. When he went to pick them up, he found security officers waiting for him. Investigators allege that the teenager planned to set off an explosion at the city’s market. Upon searching his apartment, the authorities found multiple chemicals and smoke grenades.

Just two months ago, two teenagers in the Krasnoyarsk region were convicted of planning to set a relay cabinet on fire. They were sentenced to 4 years and 5.5 years in juvenile detention. One of them had set a cabinet on fire before.

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