The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Mikhail Balabanov from Kazan to 4.5 years in prison in the case of preparing to set fire to a military registration and enlistment office. A SOTAvision correspondent reported this from the courtroom.
The 21-year-old boy was found guilty of preparing a terrorist attack (part 1 of article 30, paragraph “a” of part 2 of article 205 of the Criminal Code).
Balabanov was detained in December 2022. According to investigators, he entered into a conspiracy with a Ukrainian intelligence officer and decided to set fire to the military registration and enlistment office of the city of Nevinnomyssk in the Stavropol Territory. He left there after the announcement of “partial” mobilization.
In court it became known that in 2022 Balabanov received a summons from the military registration and enlistment office — he was just finishing his studies at college. After this, the young man turned to the Ukrainian project “I Want to Live” for help. Then he was contacted by a telegram user under the nickname “Ben”, who, according to the defense, was an FSB employee. “Ben” told Balabanov to come from Kazan to Nevinnomyssk and fulfill his demands.
The prosecution requested nine years in prison for the young man, he partially admitted his guilt. In particular, as the Solidarity Zone reports, in his last word Balabanov said that he really “corresponded with a certain Ben,” but “he was not going to kill anyone, he was not going to cause an explosion or arson at the military registration and enlistment office, or anywhere else.”