They have requested a fine of 600,000 roubles (approx. US$6,700) for Leonid Volkov’s father because of donations to the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK).

A mathematician and the father of politician Leonid Volkov, Mikhail Volkov, is facing a requested fine of 600,000 roubles (about US$6,600) in a case concerning the financing of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) (part 1 of Article 282.3 of the Russian Criminal Code), reports Mediazona.

As mitigating factors, the prosecutor considered a guilty plea and remorse, Volkov’s state of health, numerous positive character references, his elderly age, and his donation to the charity “We Are Together.”

Volkov senior is being accused over two transfers of 1,000 roubles each, made in August and September 2021. In court, he did not testify, but requested that the statements he had made during the investigation on 10 April be read out.

“In 2021, on 4 or 5 August, I think I read on RBC that FBK had been declared an extremist organisation and its activities banned, with accounts frozen. But their activities did not seem extremist to me, since they made anti-corruption investigations,” Mediazona quotes Volkov: “Then there was a letter from FBK saying that money could be sent to new details, and that it was safe to do so. I followed the link sent to me and set up automatic transfers of 1,000 roubles each. After 5 September I stopped sending any money, as I realised that such transfers were actually illegal and unsafe. Please note that my son Leonid did not agitate me or call on me to join FBK or support the organisation.”

A search in connection with this case was carried out on 3 April. After questioning, Mikhail Volkov was released under a travel restriction order. During the search, Leonid Volkov’s parents had a placard in his support confiscated—his mother, Susanna, had held it for a solo protest in Yekaterinburg (a major city in the Urals) in winter 2018, when her son was serving an administrative arrest.

Mikhail Volkov is 69 years old, a mathematician and professor. In February, he was dismissed from Ural Federal University, where he chaired the department of algebra and fundamental informatics, due to his son’s political activities.

• In June, Leonid Volkov was sentenced in absentia to 18 years in prison. He lives outside Russia.