Russia

Today, July 21, anarchist Deniz Aydin celebrates his birthday. He turns 27 years old.

Deniz is an anarchist and anti-fascist from Tyumen. He played guitar in two bands: the hardcore group Siberian Brigade and the black metal project RASPUTIN. Shortly before his arrest, he enrolled in college to train as a locomotive driver. He planned to continue developing as a musician and dreamed of creating a support fund for political prisoners.

Lyubov Lizunova willturn 20 years old.

In April 2024, Lyuba was sentenced to three and a half years in a general-regime penal colony over posts published on the Telegram channels. Two of the posts described anti-war direct action protests in the Transbaikal region. Initially, Lyuba was also prosecuted on a vandalism charge for the graffiti "Death to the regime" painted on the outskirts of Chita, but that case was later dropped after the statute of limitations expired.

This will be the ninth birthday he spends behind bars.

Vasily was arrested in the autumn of 2017 and sentenced to nine years in a general-regime penal colony. During these years in prison, he has faced many hardships, contracted and recovered from tuberculosis, and been transferred between several colonies. Before his arrest, he lived in Penza, worked as a design engineer, played music, and helped animal shelters.

He will turn 31 years old. According to the support group, this is already the fourth birthday he is spending in captivity.

On April 21, the day after arriving at the colony, Azat was taken to the administration building. They tried to force him to clean a toilet there. After he refused, he was systematically tortured. Yesterday, The Insider published a detailed account by Azat, which they translated into English today. We are republishing an article by The Insider, in which Azat also names his torturers. You may find the postal address and details for financial support after the translation.

Anarchist, mathematician, and political prisoner Azat Miftakhov was sentenced on March 28, 2024, to 4 additional years in prison. On September 4, 2023, he was detained upon leaving IK-17 in Omutninsk, Kirov region, where he had already served his first sentence—allegedly for breaking a window at a United Russia office in Moscow’s Khovrino district. The basis for the new prosecution for “justifying terrorism” was (allegedly) comments Azat made while watching a TV program with other inmates about anarchist Mikhail Zhlobitsky, who carried out an explosion at the FSB office in Arkhangelsk.

How did a young, successful programmer become a “terrorist” and “extremist”? How did prisoners and prison guards react to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? And why did some prisoners, even those who were in prison for desertion, go to war? Viktor Filinkov, a defendant in the “Network” case who got 7 years in prison, talked about this in an interview with Posle.

He will turn 38 years old. Ruslan Sidiki is a citizen of Russia and Italy, an electrician from Ryazan, an explorer of industrial areas, bicycle traveler, anarchist, and partisan. Last year the 2nd Western District Military Court sentenced Ruslan Sidiki to a record 29 years in prison. Two acts of sabotage against Russian military infrastructure carried out by Ruslan in 2023 were classified by the court as “terrorist acts.”

Anarchist Ruslan Sidiki, who was sentenced to 29 years in prison, continues to await his appeal in the Ryazhsk pre-trial detention center (SIZO) in the Ryazan region.

But this is not just waiting — it is a constant struggle. Ruslan is being denied access to books, newspapers subscribed in his name do not reach him, and for the second time in a row the same investigator has refused to open a criminal case regarding the torture Ruslan endured during his arrest.

Other Defendants in the Antifa United Case Receive 2.5 and 3.5 Years.

Judge Ekaterina Stepina of the Izmailovsky District Court of Moscow delivered a verdict to three antifascists in the case of Antifa United, which law enforcement agencies—and now the court as well—consider an “extremist community.”

On February 8, Danil Chertykov turns 32 years old. He is celebrating his birthday in captivity for 4th time.

Danil Chertykov is an anarchist and antifascist from Yekaterinburg. He worked as a veterinarian, and in his free time devoted himself to music, playing guitar in the riot-folk band Rocker Balboa.

Anton is currently being held at Detention Center No. 1 (SIZO-1) in Irkutsk. He needs qualified legal assistance in order to challenge the verdict of the Second District Military Court, which in October sentenced him to six years in prison over two comments posted on Telegram.

Anton left the first comment in the Telegram channel “Irkutsk Blog” in July 2024. Under a post about Governor Igor Kobzev, who considers spending on the war to be a higher priority than repairing schools, Anton wrote:

In less than two months, you have donated 235,000 rubles (2600 euros) for Ruslan Sidiki’s legal defense. We have already paid the lawyer’s fees for November and December, and the remaining amount will cover expenses through the end of February.

The lawsuit was filed by the acting prosecutor of Zabaykalsky Krai, Stanislav Nemtsov. The defendants were Chita-based anarchists Aleksandr Snezhkov and Lyubov Lizunova. According to their support group, they were declared the “leaders” of the association. Anarchists took part in the court hearing on January 20 via video link.

According to the support group, Irina Viktorovna's date with Anton took place on December 3. According to her, his condition is "more or less ok" and much better than during the last meeting. In November, when she first visited Anton after his sentence, he did not smiled once.

He is turning 28. Alexey Rozhkov is an anarchist from the city of Berezovsky in the Sverdlovsk region. He was involved in punk music, previously played bass in the band Tell Me the Reason, and was interested in existentialist philosophy.

He is turning 29. Alexey is a musician from Novotroitsk in Russia’s Orenburg region. In his youth, he wanted to become a soldier, and after an unsuccessful attempt to enroll in an airborne military school, he voluntarily went to serve his compulsory military service. During that time, his views evolved first toward Marxism, and later he came to identify himself as an anarchist.

Anarchist Ruslan Sidiki remains in detention — and we continue to support him. Right now we need to raise 200,000 rubles to pay for his lawyer’s work for the next three months. When someone is held in a pre-trial detention center (SIZO), this is the most expensive period to provide support. At the same time, it’s also when there are more opportunities — for the defense, regular lawyer visits, and filing appeals.

This text is a collective statement of Russian-speaking anarchist collectives (see the list of signatories below). It should have been published even earlier, but now it’s really the time for a consolidated statement about the war in Ukraine. We do not claim to represent the stance of each and every anarchist from Russia, but the need for a clear position, and contradictions associated with the war in Ukraine lead to the necessity to act as a united movement.