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Anarchist and anti-fascist prisoners in Russia - Αναρχικοί και αντιφασίστες στις Ρωσικές φυλακές

Anarchist and anti-fascist prisoners in Russia

Presentation in Apertus squat of Agrinion, Greece, 21 of June 2025. Presentation in English, translation to Greek.

Ελληνική περίληψη μετά το αγγλικό κείμενο του ιστολογίου.

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Fundraising for the defense of anti-fascist Yuri Mikheev

Source: Solidarity zone

On 18 February 2025, a tribunal at the 2nd Western District Military Court found Yuri Mikheev guilty of "preparing sabotage" (Articles 281.2 and 30.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), and sentenced to him to seven years behind bars, with the first three years to be served in prison.

Together with his lawyer, Yuri has lodged an appeal against the sentence, but so far no date has been given for the hearing.

Fundraising for the defense of anarchist Ruslan Sidiki

On May 23, anarchist Ruslan Sidiki was sentenced to a record-breaking 29 years in prison. He received this sentence for two acts of sabotage against military infrastructure: blowing up a railway track and carrying out a drone attack on an airfield. Ruslan explained his actions as an attempt to hinder attacks on Ukraine.

Alexander Snezhkov spent over three months in solitary confinement and is now transferred to a stricter detention unit

As of the end of May, Alexander Snezhkov, a defendant in the “Chita anarchists’ case,” had spent more than 90 days in the SHIZO (penal isolation ward, hole), after which he was transferred to a PKT (cell-type facility) with even stricter detention conditions.

PKT (cell-type facility) is a special section within a correctional facility (prison within a penal colony), where inmates are sent as a disciplinary measure for severe violations of prison rules in general, strict, or special regime colonies.

Anarchist Ruslan Siddiqui Sentenced to 29 Years in a Maximum-Security Penal Colony

Yesterday, May 23, Judge Oleg Shishov of the 2nd Western District Military Court, during an off-site session at the Ryazan Garrison Military Court, sentenced 37-year-old Ruslan Siddiqui to 29 years in a high-security penal colony, as reported by a Mediazona correspondent from the courtroom.

Defendant in the “Chita case” Lyubov Lizunova transferred to a new penal colony

On May 1918-year-old anarchist Lyubov Lizunova was transferred from her previous location at the Tomsk Juvenile Correctional Facility (TVK-2) to a new location.

According to the support group, she is being moved to one of the colonies in Buryatia. Lyuba spent more than two and a half months in TVK-2 after a three-week transfer from Chita SIZO-1. During her time in Tomsk, she completed the 11th grade, passed her final exams, and received mostly top marks — nearly all A’s and a few B’s.

Key Aspects of the Persecution of the Russian LGBTQIA+ Community

This presentation explores the current state of the LGBTQIA+ community in Russia and highlights the ongoing challenges they face. It also includes statistics from November 2024, offering an overview of the asylum process for Russian LGBTQIA+ asylum seekers in Finland — including general guidelines of the official procedure, the actual situation, and the difficulties encountered by applicants.

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Anarchist Partisan Ruslan Siddiqi Transferred to "Matrosskaya Tishina"

Source: Anarchist Black Cross Moscow

This was revealed during session at the 2nd Western District Military Court in Moscow 9th of April, where Ruslan’s pre-trial detention was extended for another six months.The court also announced the date of the first substantive hearing — it will take place on April 15 at 11:00 AM, in the same court.

Wish a Happy Birthday to Political Prisoner and Anarchist Ilya Shakursky!

Source: Anarchist Black Cross Moscow

On April 10th, anarchist Ilya Shakursky celebrates his birthday. He turns 29, 7.5 of which he has already spent in prison. Ilya is one of the defendants in the “Network case”, in which the FSB fabricated an entire terrorist organization just to earn stars on their epaulets. In 2020, a Putin-controlled court sentenced Shakursky to 16 years in a high-security penal colony.

“They oppress me, yet I don’t broke” - Victor Filinkov did not plead guilty under torture for the “Network” case and was sent to prison for seven years, now he explores Chat GPT at large

In 2018 Victor Filinkov was a 23-year old programmer and a left-wing activist. Suddenly he became the suspect of the “Network” case - young people from Penza, Moscow and other cities allegedly created a terrorist organization.

18-year-old anarchist Lyubov Lizunova transferred to a prison colony in Tomsk

Source: Anarchist Black Cross Moscow

On February 14, Lyubov Lizunova, a defendant in the Chita Anarchists' Case, was taken out of Pre-Trial Detention Center No. 1 in Chita in Russian Far East. The three-week transfer route passed through Irkutsk and Mariinsk in the Kemerovo region of Siberia. On March 2, Lyubov informed her parents that she had arrived at the juvenile correctional colony in Tomsk.

Anarchist Black Cross Moscow launches a Telegram channel

Hi, this is Anarchist Black Cross Moscow. Our group has been helping imprisoned anarchists, anti-fascists and their allies since 2003. Now we are facing a level of repression against members and participants of the anarchist and anti-fascist movements unprecedented in Russia's recent history. We can oppose the repression they want to shut our mouths with by standing in solidarity with our imprisoned comrades and comrades-in-arms.

‘You could call me a partisan.’ Ruslan Sidiki recounts his anti-war actions

Ruslan Sidiki

A Russian and Italian citizen, an electrician from [the Russian city of] Ryazan, an industrial tourist, a bike traveller, an anarchist and a partisan – all this can be said about 36-year-old Ruslan Sidiki. In the summer of 2023, he dispatched four drones with explosives to attack the Diaghilev military airfield near Ryazan, and in the autumn, he decided to act “from the ground” – damaging railway lines with two bombs and derailing 19 freight train wagons. Sidiki is currently awaiting trial in a Moscow pre-trial detention centre, with the prospect of a life sentence hanging over him.

What 2024 Brought: "Trends of chaos and order," episode 190

Hey everyone! The year of 2024 is coming to an end. During these 12 months, there's been as much bad as good. All that has happened needs to be thought about and analysed, as the one who doesn't understand the past won't have any future. That's why we decided in the year's last episode of "Trends" to collect the four most popular episodes from the year and freshen up our memories of what happened, how, and what we thought about it.

The podcast was released in Russian on December 30 and was translated by our volunteers.

The story of a former prisoner of the Kirov’s colony, in which Azat Miftakhov was held: what kind of provocations the prison guards were staging against the anarchist and how the case was fabricated against him

Translation of the article into English was done by our volunteers.

At the end of March 2024, the mathematician and anarchist Azat Miftakhov was sentenced to four years of imprisonment in a criminal case for “justifying terrorism”. Miftakhov pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. The case itself emerged after a prisoner, whom the anarchist considered a close friend in the colony, testified against the mathematician. The defence and Azat himself have repeatedly stated that the case is fabricated.

Author columns

Антти Раутиайнен

Presentation in Apertus squat of Agrinion, Greece, 21 of June 2025. Presentation in English, translation to Greek. Ελληνική περίληψη μετά το αγγλικό κείμενο του ιστολογίου. Listen on Spotify  Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, domestic anti-war...

5 months ago
Антти Раутиайнен

Shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Putin outlined five goals for his war: Ukraine’s non-alignment with NATO; a change in Ukraine’s government; a severe limitation of Ukraine’s defence capacity; the seizure of Ukrainian territory (with international recognition...

1 year ago