Three Rostov-on-Don residents received lengthy prison sentences in connection with the attempted arson of a military registration and enlistment office.

The court sentenced Ivan Blagodatskikh, Ilya Kudinov, and Akhmed Ramaldanov to terms of 8 to 10 years in prison, finding them guilty of attempting to set fire to a military enlistment office in Rostov-on-Don. The testimony of a secret witness played a key role in the case.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," in January 2023, three young men, including two underage students, were detained. According to security officials, they intended to set fire to a military enlistment office in Rostov-on-Don. The FSB identified the detainees as members of the "Revolutionary Workers' Party," claiming they planned to set fire to the military enlistment offices in the Sovietsky and Zheleznodorozhny districts of the city "using homemade incendiary devices." At a military court hearing in Rostov-on-Don, the state prosecutor requested sentences of 9 to 11 years in prison for Ivan Blagodatskikh, Ilya Kudinov, and Akhmed Ramaldanov, accused of attempting to set fire to a military registration and enlistment office. Journalists discovered that the preparations for this arson were supervised by an FSB informant. In July 2024, Sergei Mishchenko, a Rostov resident and acquaintance of the detainees, was fined 30,000 rubles for failure to report.

The Southern District Military Court sentenced three defendants in the case of the failed arson attack on a military registration and enlistment office in Rostov-on-Don, Mediazona reported (the defendants were designated as foreign agents).

The court sentenced Ivan Blagodatskikh to 9 years, Ilya Kudinov to 10, and Akhmed Ramaldanov to 8 years. They will spend the first three years in prison, and the remainder of their sentences in a maximum-security penal colony.

According to investigators, on the night of January 3, 2023, three young men, then aged 18 to 21, were planning to throw Molotov cocktails at the military registration and enlistment office building in the Sovetsky and Zheleznodorozhny districts of Rostov. However, they were detained by FSB officers while riding in a taxi to the site of the attack.

The testimony of secret witness "Ivanova" played a key role in the case. She was a friend of Kudinov and Ramaldanov, and introduced them to the Blagodatskikh family at a New Year's celebration two days before their arrest. According to the case materials read out in court, the woman had been cooperating with the FSB since at least December 23, 2022, and "acted within the framework of ongoing investigative operations."

The defense pointed out inconsistencies in the evidence

During the closing arguments, defense attorney Yevgeny Yuryev pointed out that the case includes a linguistic analysis of a phrase that, according to investigators, Ivan Blagodatskikh wrote in a telegram to an acquaintance named Pozdnyakov. The correspondence is dated December 16-18, 2022, when Blagodatskikh was not yet acquainted with the other two defendants. Investigators classified this episode as involvement in terrorism.

However, according to the defense, no such message was found during an inspection of Blagodatskikh's phone in court, and investigators did not seize or examine Pozdnyakov's phone. Furthermore, the lawyer emphasized, a technical examination established that Blagodatskikh had not accessed the internet on his phone on December 18.

During the closing arguments, Kudinov and Ramaldanov's defense team asked the court for a minimum sentence, while Blagodatskikh's defense team asked for an acquittal, the publication states.