A supporter of the Wagner Group was sentenced to three years over a comment about a “shell shortage”

In Khabarovsk, the 1st Eastern District Military Court sentenced Alexander Shevchuk, a resident of Blagoveshchensk, to three years in prison for criticising the Russian authorities over the lack of resources on the frontlines. OVD-Info was informed of this by a source familiar with the case.

A criminal case under the article for incitement to terrorism (Part 2, Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code) was opened against Shevchuk on 31 March. The reason was a two-year-old comment he had posted under a video showing a drone strike on Kremlin buildings in a city-based Telegram channel: “That’s right! Until there is a serious strike on Rublyovka or the Kremlin, they’ll keep playing toy soldiers! Putin will keep promising not to 'touch' the drug addict in Kyiv and everyone who comes to him and strolls calmly around the city! That’s how they’ll keep starving the troops on the front for shells!”

In the discussion that followed, the user referred to the founder of Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who had spoken about his mercenaries’ lack of resources, and criticised Russia’s Ministry of Defence for its actions in the war against Ukraine, including the withdrawal from Kherson in November 2022.

Alexander Shevchuk is 64 years old. On social media, he speaks out against Vladimir Putin and United Russia, expresses a positive attitude towards the USSR, and supports the military campaign against Ukraine. In April this year, a court in Blagoveshchensk—a city in Russia’s Far East—sent him to a pre-trial detention centre.

• In spring 2023, the founder of Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, repeatedly spoke out publicly against the leadership of the Ministry of Defence and the Russian General Staff, demanding that his military company be given more shells. On 23–24 June that year, he launched a rebellion: Wagner Group members marched from the occupied territories of Ukraine towards Moscow, engaging in armed clashes with Russian troops. After negotiations mediated by Alexander Lukashenko, Prigozhin agreed to halt the march—by that point, Wagner had reached Tula Region. On 23 August 2023, Prigozhin died in a plane crash.