The Novgorod Regional Court has received the case of handyman Pyotr Opalnik, Mediazona noted. From the card on the court's website it became known that his charges had been increased.
Opalnik, who was born in the village of Kleban, Vinnytsia region, moved to the city of Pestovo, Novgorod region, in 2011 and worked on construction sites. In the summer of 2022, he received Russian citizenship, and six months later, in January 2023, he was detained.
The FSB wrote in a press release dedicated to him that the builder was accused of “confidential cooperation” with another state (Article 275.1 UK). According to the intelligence service, Opalnik worked for Ukrainian intelligence and persuaded those mobilized “to treason” and voluntary surrender.
Do not come > refuse > escape. A year of mobilization in courts and sentences
After the arrest, security forces filmed Opalnik saying: “I said that you can call the phone numbers and surrender, send off the location where you are, and if you are taken away equipment, then you will be paid money if you escape with the equipment.”
Now he is separately charged with the article of “attempt to organize voluntary surrender” (part 3 of article 30, part 3 of article 33 — article 352.1 of the Criminal Code) . Article 352.1 itself on “voluntary surrender” was introduced into the Criminal Code immediately after the announcement of “partial mobilization” in September 2022. According to Mediazona, the case of Pyotr Opalnik was the first criminal case related to it to be brought to court.
In February 2024, the FSB also reported on the arrest of a resident of the Saratov region on charges that he corresponded with an acquaintance who fought in Ukraine and offered him to surrender. This was qualified as incitement to surrender (part 4 of article 33 — article 352.1 of the Criminal Code).