September 03, 2024

Another Russian Teenager Sentenced


Another Russian Teenager Sentenced
A penitential center in Moscow.  Senate of Russian Federation, Flickr.

In Khabarovsk Krai, a 15-year-old boy has been sentenced to 4.5 years in a correctional colony for participating in a "terrorist organization."

According to the independent publication Mediazona, the case against the boy was based on his correspondence with a secret witness and a video filmed by the same witness, which shows teenagers throwing a Molotov cocktail at the wall of an abandoned building.

The arrest of then-14-year-old Valery Zaitsev was made public in October 2023. Zaitsev was apprehended at a tuberculosis dispensary in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, where he had been receiving treatment for several months. The prosecution alleged that Zaitsev had “sought instructions on working with explosives and preparing Molotov cocktails,” “conducted tests and prepared incendiary devices,” and “tested them in deserted locations, posting the results in a Telegram group.” Mediazona reported that his arrest may have been prompted by a video, later posted to his Telegram channel, which shows three teenagers throwing Molotov cocktails at the wall of an abandoned building.

Zaitsev’s grandmother said the teenager was deeply troubled by Russia's War on Ukraine. “He said he was against the war,” she told Mediazona. According to his grandmother, Zaitsev posted something about the war on the internet.

The trial was held behind closed doors. Zaitsev’s grandmother said a secret witness testified against her grandson, and that formed the basis of the charges. She recalled previously seeing this man during a confrontation in which she was present as her grandson’s legal representative. In court, the "witness" testified via video conference with the camera turned off, but Zaitsev’s grandmother recognized his voice. She believes her grandson was “provoked” and “set up.”

Zaitsev’s grandmother also claimed a provocateur filmed the video featuring the Molotov cocktail. “The provocateurs brought this gasoline, showed how to do everything, and Valery posted it,” she told the journalist. She suspects this provocateur may have been working for the FSB.

The case of Valery Zaitsev is not the first in which FSB-affiliated provocateurs have been mentioned. In particular, an FSB provocateur was involved in the case of Valeria Zotova, who was accused of attempting to set fire to a government building.

Zaitsev is also not the only Russian teenager with anti-war views to be imprisoned. According to journalists from Novaya Gazeta Evropa, at least nine teenagers who spoke out against the war are currently serving sentences in correctional colonies, with sentences ranging from 3.5 to 6 years.

You Might Also Like

Fabricating a Terrorist
  • August 28, 2024

Fabricating a Terrorist

A Ukrainian refugee in Russia received threatening messages from a Telegram account. Then she was arrested for terrorism.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
Fearful Majesty

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955