A new case has been opened against Nikita Uvarov, who was convicted in the “Kansk teenagers” case.

A criminal case has been opened against 20-year-old Nikita Uvarov, who has already been in detention for almost five years, for participating in the activities of an extremist organisation (part 2 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code). This was reported by the human rights project “Prison Lawyer.”

It is unclear which organisation is involved.

The convicted man’s mother, Anna Uvarova, told Novaya Gazeta that he was transferred from a penal colony to pre-trial detention centre (SIZO-1) in Krasnoyarsk, a major city in Siberia.

Uvarova received a call from a state-appointed lawyer from the detention centre, but she could not make out what he was saying. “Nikita could be heard in the background, but they did not let me speak to him,” she said. Later, a female investigator took the phone and told Uvarova to contact the lawyer who had represented her son in his first case. He is currently away on a work trip and his phone is unreachable.

She was also informed that a case was being opened against Uvarov relating to an extremist organisation. They did not tell her the exact article or the name of the organisation involved.

Uvarov was due to be released from the colony on 19 March.

12:15 Nikita Uvarov is accused of involvement with AUE, which has been declared an extremist organisation.

The Investigative Committee claims that in February and July 2025, he “communicated prison lifestyle rules and behaviour to inmates, encouraging them to introduce and routinely use criminal-world styles of interaction and ‘laws’ within the penal institution.”

A year ago, Novaya Gazeta reported that in IK-31, where Uvarov is held, “there is a crackdown on AUE,” and apparently he has been grouped under this category. The convicted man has repeatedly been placed in a punishment cell (SHIZO). However, materials from the first case show that Uvarov and his friends opposed AUE and covered up this abbreviation with their own flyers. In addition, IK-31 is considered a “red” colony, meaning the administration sets the rules, unlike “black” colonies, which are usually associated with AUE and are run by certain groups of prisoners.

In 2020, the Supreme Court recognised the non-existent “Prisoners’ Criminal Unity” movement as extremist. The SOVA research centre noted that AUE “is not a unified structure” and does not have a political ideology.

• Nikita Uvarov and two other teenagers from Kansk, a city in Siberia, were detained in summer 2020, when they were 14 years old. Until May 2021, he remained in pre-trial detention. Afterwards, he was temporarily released for several months.
• According to investigators, the schoolchildren studied how to make explosives and use them, practising in abandoned buildings and on wasteland. They first appeared on law enforcement’s radar after putting up posters in support of the arrested anarchist and mathematician Azat Miftakhov. After their detention, police found messages showing they had built an FSB building in the computer game Minecraft and planned to blow it up as a joke.
• In February 2022, the court sentenced Uvarov to five years in a penal colony on charges of training for terrorism (article 205.3 of the Criminal Code), unlawful manufacturing (part 2 of article 223.1), and possession (part 2 of article 222.1) of explosives. The other two teenagers received suspended sentences.