A resident of Novorossiysk, a Black Sea port city in southern Russia, has been sentenced to 9 years because of their social media posts and an attempt to join the “Freedom of Russia” Legion.

43-year-old Nikolay Artamonov from Novorossiysk, a southern Russian city on the Black Sea, has been sentenced to nine years in prison in a case of repeated discrediting of the army (part 1, article 280.3 of the Criminal Code), justification of terrorism (part 2, article 205.2 of the Criminal Code) and attempted involvement in a terrorist organisation (part 2, article 205.5 of the Criminal Code in conjunction with part 1, article 30 of the Criminal Code), reports Mediazona.

He will spend the first four years in prison and the remaining time in a strict regime penal colony.

According to the investigation, in 2023 Artamonov published posts on VKontakte criticising the actions of the Russian army in Ukraine and comments which experts called justification of terrorism. In the summer of the same year, he allegedly tried to join the ‘Freedom of Russia’ legion: he filled out an application form, wrote a text of oath and sent them to a representative of the group. In August he was detained on a train on his way to Belgorod region, near the Ukrainian border.

Artamonov’s name was added to the Rosfinmonitoring list of ‘terrorists and extremists’ back in November 2023. Before that, in 2022, he was fined under the article on ‘discrediting’ the army.