18:34, 20 October 2026

The court arrested the Volgograd resident for comments in Telegram

Ivan Obolonin in the courtroom. Photo: press service of the Central District Court of Volgograd / "VKontakte"

The Central District Court of Volgograd sent local resident Ivan Obolonin to a pre-trial detention center, accused of justifying terrorist activities due to comments in a messenger.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", FSB officers detained the 41-year-old Volgograd resident, seeing in his comments on Telegram support and justification for terrorist organizations. The article on justifying terrorism on the internet (part 2 of article 205.2 of the Criminal Code of Russia) provides for a prison sentence of five to seven years.

Courts in southern Russia regularly sentence local residents to real terms in prison for publications on social networks under the article on justifying terrorism via the internet. It is impossible to establish the actual number of such sentences, as not all cases of justifying terrorism enter public court registries.

Volgograd resident Ivan Obolonin, detained by security forces in a terrorism justification case, has been remanded in custody by the decision of the Central District Court of Volgograd, local publication V1 reports, citing the court's press service.

The court's press service reported on the man's arrest, publishing his photo in a cage in the courtroom. In the official message on the court's page on "VKontakte", the accused is referred to as "Ivan O.".

According to the investigation, on December 24, 2024, the man published two comments on Telegram. They referred to the organizations "Legion 'Freedom of Russia'"* and "Russian Volunteer Corps"*; both were declared terrorist organizations in the Russian Federation back in 2023.

In Obolonin's comments, law enforcement saw "a combination of linguistic and psychological signs of justifying terrorist activities" of the mentioned groups, the court's message states. The man was detained on October 19, and on the same day, he was charged.

In court, the accused and his lawyer requested a preventive measure not related to imprisonment. Obolonin's defender, in particular, argued that the Volgograd resident "does not intend to hide from the investigation and the court".

The court rejected the defense's arguments and remanded Obolonin in custody until December 6, 2026. The "Caucasian Knot" currently has no information on the accused and his lawyer's plans to appeal the ruling.

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* 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.

Translated automatically via OpenAI from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/427640