The Smolninsky District Court of St. Petersburg sent a pensioner to a pre-trial detention center on suspicion of attempted “confidential cooperation with a foreign state.” This was reported by the joint press service of the city courts.
The man's name is not disclosed. It is known that he was born in Dagestan and that he is 67 years old.
According to the investigation, the pensioner himself “appealed to Main Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine» and «announced his intentions to give the Ukrainian side information and take specific actions that could contribute to the military defeat of the Russian Federation» (Part 3 of Article 30, Article 275.1 of the Criminal Code). FSB officers found out about this and began monitoring “all meetings and correspondence” of the man.
At the arrest hearing, the pensioner himself refused to testify.
Article 275.1 of the Criminal Code on “confidential cooperation” «with foreigners, for which a man is accused, appeared in 2022 — after a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. It implies up to eight years in prison.
According to the vague wording of the article, to be prosecuted under it, a person must “assist” foreigners “in activities knowingly directed against the security of the Russian Federation,” but this would not be enough for the article on treason (275 Criminal Code).