Former GRU Colonel Vladimir Kvachkov was charged with «discrediting» the army (Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses). This was reported by the telegram channel «Caution, news» with reference to Kvachkov's wife Nadezhda and a member of the nationalist movement «Society. Future” by Savva Fedoseev.
As they write “Caution, the news”, the police summoned Kvachkov to the department, but the notice itself came late. As a result, the ex-colonel of the GRU had to negotiate with the police about a new meeting.
According to Kommersant, Kvachkov himself believes that the case was initiated due to the appeal of the All-Russian Officers' Assembly, in which he and his supporters criticized the course of the war in Ukraine and called for «transition from conducting a special operation to a full-scale war with the Ukrainian army.»
“The administrative material was received by the department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Moscow district of Izmailovo. It was compiled after the appeal of a certain citizen, whom exactly, I do not know. Then we will figure it out, in the near future I will go to the police with a lawyer to understand what specific statements or statements they are trying to recognize as discrediting, ”the man told the publication.
Vladimir Kvachkov is a veteran of several wars, a retired GRU colonel. In 2005, he was a defendant in an attack on the head of a Russian energy company, Anatoly Chubais. In 2008, Kvachkov was acquitted by a jury.
Later, the man was arrested again — in 2013, the court sentenced him to eight years in prison on the case of assisting terrorism (part 1 of article 205.1 of the Criminal Code) and attempting to organize an armed rebellion (part 1 of article 30 and article 279 of the Criminal Code). According to the FSB, Kvachkov created the organization «People's militia named after Minin and Pozharsky», whose members in different cities were preparing armed demonstrations. In 2015, the organization was recognized as a terrorist organization.
In August 2017, the ex-colonel was sentenced to a year and a half in a strict regime colony on the case of inciting hatred or enmity (Article 282 of the Criminal Code) for a video message from the colony. After the partial decriminalization of Article 282 of the Criminal Code, Kvachkov was released in February 2019. In February 2020, a court in Moscow imposed administrative supervision on him for three years and banned him from participating in rallies during this period.
After the start of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kvachkov said that he considered Russia's victory in the war «inevitable», he also spoke approvingly of the shelling of Ukrainian cities. At the same time, the ex-colonel of the GRU criticizes the Russian government and the army for the course of the war in Ukraine.
Updated at 20:50. Added information about what became the reason for the administrative case.