MOSCOW (AFP): Russia has sentenced two men to lengthy prison terms for allegedly aiding Ukraine’s army, the latest convictions in an unrelenting crackdown linked to Moscow’s military campaign.
Moscow has opened dozens of treason, terrorism, espionage and sabotage cases against its citizens for allegedly cooperating with Kyiv or trying to undermine the Russian army’s full-scale offensive, launched in February 2022.
Thousands of people have also been imprisoned, detained or fined for speaking out against the conflict in public or on social media.
In the western Kirov region, a military court sentenced a local resident to 21 years in prison after he was found guilty of setting fire to three electrical railroad structures, the state-run TASS news agency reported, citing the FSB security service.
The FSB said he was acting on Ukraine’s orders.
Russia’s vast railway infrastructure – used to move troops and equipment to the front – has been repeatedly targeted in a spate of sabotage and arson attempts over the last three years.
In a separate case in the Russian Far East, a 22-year old man was sentenced to 12 years for “treason,” state media reported, after the FSB alleged he transferred money to Ukraine that was used to purchase military equipment.
Russia has launched several similar cases since February 2022, arresting individuals for donating even nominal sums to Ukrainian humanitarian organizations.
Russian courts also announced Tuesday several captured Ukrainian soldiers had been sentenced to years in jail.
Moscow regularly tries Ukrainian soldiers for alleged crimes committed during the conflict, despite the prosecution of soldiers for taking part in hostilities being banned under the Geneva Conventions.
A military court in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don sentenced five Ukrainian POWs to around six years in prison, the TASS news agency reported.
They were accused of waging combat against civilians.
The Russian general prosecutor’s office said two other Ukrainian soldiers were sentenced to 15 and 16 years in prison on terrorism charges after they were captured fighting in Russia’s western Kursk region, where Kyiv launched a shock cross-border offensive last summer.
