In Yessentuki, a city in the south of Russia, a former head of the local Afghanistan Veterans’ Union will go on trial for donating to the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK).

A criminal case has been submitted to the Yessentuki City Court against a local resident accused of financing extremist activity (Part 1, Article 282.3 of the Criminal Code). The court press service’s announcement was noted by Mediazona.

A friend of the defendant told OVD-Info that the case has been opened against Mikhail Popov, the former chairman of the local Union of Afghan Veterans board.

His case was submitted to the court on 4 June. The first hearing has not yet been scheduled.

The court press service stated that, in August 2021, Petrov “being an opponent of the authorities and the President of the Russian Federation” and a supporter of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, began making donations to the organisation.

Popov’s friend said the case concerns seven donations sent between August 2021 and February 2022.

From 2010 to 2023, Popov was chair of the board of the Yessentuki Union of Afghan Veterans. In January 2021, he was arrested for five days over participating in a rally in support of Alexei Navalny. Popov was found guilty of organising an unauthorised rally (Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code) and of disobeying the police (Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code).

After the invasion of Ukraine began, he joined anti-war pickets and spoke out on his social media pages against the war. On 29 April 2022, the Yessentuki City Court fined Popov 35,000 roubles (US$380) under the article on “discrediting” the army (Part 1, Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code) due to two posts on VKontakte.

In one post, Popov shared a photo from a picket he attended with a sign reading: “Putin is not all of Russia. Stay strong Ukraine,” describing how passers-by reacted to his protest. In his second post, he criticised Western countries for the sanctions imposed: “I’m against the war in Ukraine and joined a picket against it. But these are our ‘Slavic’ squabbles, and the West shouldn’t interfere here. And to the Western moralists I want to say: you, who consider yourselves civilised people, are just as much ‘zombies’ as Russians. The only difference is, we get Putin’s propaganda, while you get your own.” In court, Popov did not admit guilt, saying he was simply expressing his opinion.

In July 2024, he was also fined 1,000 roubles (US$11) under the article on displaying banned symbols (Part 1, Article 20.3 of the Administrative Code) for posting an image containing the Anti-Corruption Foundation logo back in 2018.

• In 2021, the Moscow City Court designated the Anti-Corruption Foundation and Navalny’s headquarters as extremist organisations. Transfers to the foundation made after the decision came into force became subject to the criminal article on financing extremist activity.