Arkadii Balchugov

A resident of Nizhny Novgorod, he was engaged in theoretical mechanics, worked at the Department of General Physics and Theoretical Mechanics of NNGASU, and was a postgraduate student at the Department of Theory of Politics and Communication of Nizhny Novgorod University. According to him, since 2014 he was regularly taken away for interviews by FSB officers. As he suggests, the interest of the officers is related to the fact that he converted to Islam. In autumn 2023, his computer was taken away from him. In June 2024, Balchugov was detained and, after a search, as he told activist Ivan Shukshin, was taken to the FSB building and taken to the basement, where he was held for several hours without being allowed to go to the toilet. A case of public justification of terrorism was opened against him, allegedly because of two posts on a closed VKontakte page: one about the Caucasian militant Said Buriatskii and the other about the war against Ukraine. He was given a covenant not to leave the country. On 12 March 2025, Balchugov was sentenced to a fine of 490 thousand rubles.