A Stavropol resident was sentenced to prison for inciting terrorism.

A military court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Stavropol resident Artur Shamanov to three years in prison, finding his comments on a messenger to be justification and propaganda for terrorism.

The Southern District Military Court has been hearing the case of Artur Shamanov, accused of publicly calling for terrorist activity and justifying terrorism online, since December 2025. The verdict was announced on March 4.

According to the court's verdict, in 2024 and 2025, Shamanov posted seven text comments in public messenger groups. Law enforcement agencies found these messages to contain "calls for terrorist activity, as well as public propaganda and justification of terrorism," the court's press service reported on its Telegram channel.

Court representatives did not specify whether Artur Shamanov admitted to the charges. The court sentenced him to three years in a general regime penal colony (Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Russian Criminal Code carries a sentence of five to seven years).

The Stavropol Krai Prosecutor's Office also announced the verdict in this case, calling the defendant a supporter of the ideology of a terrorist organization banned in Russia. The 29-year-old Stavropol resident, in his comments, positively assessed the "illegal actions of the group," according to a statement on the agency's official Telegram channel.

The prosecutor's office noted that after his release, the court banned the convicted man from administering websites, forums, chats, and social media groups for two years. The press release did not specify which banned organization the Stavropol resident's comments were about.

Despite his conviction for "terrorism," Artur Shamanov's name was not included in Rosfinmonitoring's register of terrorists and extremists as of 1:50 a.m. Moscow time on March 5. In the spring of 2025, the Industrial District Court of Stavropol twice held Shamanov administratively liable, both times for his comments on Telegram, according to the Sova Research Center*.

On March 20, 2025, Artur Shamanov received 15 days of arrest for calls for hostile violent actions against a “group of persons identified on religious grounds” (Article 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses), and on May 22, he was fined 70,000 rubles for public calls to violate the territorial integrity of Russia (Part 2 of Article 20.3.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses).

"He attempted to call on Muslims to liberate the territories of the Caucasus and Russia from Moscow's occupation in order to form a state in these territories that would adhere to Sharia law. He hoped that Western countries and Russia, due to the geopolitical situation, would start a nuclear war between themselves. This would help devout Muslims to withdraw the lands of the Caucasus from Russia and form a separate state based on the norms of Islam, Sharia law, and the Caliphate, since the lands of the Caucasus and southern Russia were illegally and forcibly occupied by the Russian Empire," the ruling on the court's website states. It also notes that Artur Shamanov was born in Karachay-Cherkessia.

According to the rulings, Shamanov pleaded guilty in both administrative cases. In examining the second case, the court noted that experts also found signs of propaganda and justification of terrorism in Shamanov’s words – this conclusion probably led to the initiation of criminal proceedings against him.

* are listed as foreign agents.

** Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) is banned in Russia.