A Stavropol resident was convicted of participating in a terrorist organization.

The Southern District Military Court sentenced a 35-year-old man to 18 years in prison for participating in a terrorist organization. Investigators believe he joined the banned organization while in prison.

According to the court, the convicted man, while serving a prison sentence for a previous drug trafficking offense, joined a terrorist organization banned in Russia in May 2024 and expressed his willingness to act in its interests.

The illegal activity was identified and stopped by officers of the FSB Directorate for Stavropol Krai, the press service of the Stavropol Krai Prosecutor's Office reported today on its Telegram channel.

The man was found guilty of participating in the activities of a terrorist organization 1 . He was sentenced to 18 years in prison, with the first three years to be served in a special-regime penal colony.

The prosecutor's office did not name the organization in whose interests, according to the court, the convicted man acted. Information on the court's website regarding articles on participation in a terrorist organization is hidden.

"Caucasian Knot" also reported that the Southern District Military Court sentenced Andrei Balashov to 15 years in a maximum-security prison, accused of treason and preparing a terrorist attack in Stavropol Krai. According to Balashov's common-law wife, Ekaterina Ragulina, he went to the Rostov Region to earn money, where he was offered rotational work. Also, a military court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Kislovodsk resident Ilya Mezentsev to a long term of imprisonment, recognizing him as a member of the “Legion of Freedom of Russia”*.

* The "Freedom of Russia Legion" (also referred to as the "Freedom of Russia Legion") is designated a terrorist organization and its activities are prohibited in Russia by a decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

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