A native of Uzbekistan was convicted for preparing terrorist acts in Stavropol.

The Southern District Military Court sentenced Almir Aktuganov to 23 years in a strict regime colony for preparing arson attacks on administrative buildings in Stavropol.

According to the court and investigation, on January 16, 2025, Almir Aktuganov was in Moscow, from where he began corresponding with a member of the banned terrorist organization Legion "Freedom of Russia"*. Later, he filled out an application for voluntary membership in the specified organization and sent it online.

On February 10 of the same year, the defendant arrived in Stavropol and began waiting for further instructions from members of the organization, the Southern District Military Court reported today on its Telegram channel.

After that, according to the investigation and court, Aktuganov received an assignment to gather and transmit information about military, administrative, and industrial facilities located in Stavropol. For this purpose, he repeatedly visited the specified buildings and filmed them. On February 19, the defendant also received an assignment to rent a residential space that would be used for storing materials and components necessary for making homemade incendiary devices.

On February 21-22, Aktuganov photographed the buildings of the public reception office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the buildings of the FSB in the Stavropol Territory. On February 23-24, he purchased materials and components necessary for making homemade incendiary devices and began to store them.

On February 25, Aktuganov informed a member of the organization about the selected targets for committing a terrorist act: the building of the administration of the Oktyabrsky district of the city, the building of the administration of Stavropol and the Stavropol City Duma, the building of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Stavropol Territory, and then made homemade incendiary devices. On February 26, Aktuganov was detained by law enforcement officers.

The court found Aktuganov guilty of participating in the activities of a terrorist organization, preparing for a terrorist act, espionage, and assisting the enemy in activities knowingly directed against the security of the state, and sentenced him to 23 years of imprisonment in a strict regime correctional colony, with the first 5 years to be served in prison.

Almir Aktuganov is 38 years old, he was born in Fergana, according to the record in the register of terrorists and extremists of Rosfinmonitoring. According to a bot that tracks updates in this list, Aktuganov's data with a note of involvement in terrorism was added there long before the verdict, on April 28, 2025.

"Caucasian Knot" also reported that in August, a native of Dagestan was sentenced to a long term for preparing a terrorist act in Stavropol. According to the court and investigation, in January-February 2025, Dzhaparov photographed, filmed, and determined the geographical coordinates of the buildings of the FSB of Russia in the Stavropol Territory, the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the region, the military commissariat of the territory, military units, as well as a branch of the Krasnodar University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other facilities.

* the organization is recognized as terrorist and banned in Russia.

** the activities of the company Meta (which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) are banned in Russia.