Artem Khoroshilov

The resident of Moscow, an employee of MIPT. On 25 January 2023, his mother's flat was searched and saltpeter was seized. Khoroshilov himself, who, according to his mother, had not lived in the flat for many years, was detained and arrested for four days under an administrative article on petty hooliganism (Article 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences). After that, according to the T-Invariant publication, he was under surveillance for almost a year. As it turned out later, as part of the criminal case opened on 4 December 2023, he was charged with actions allegedly committed in 2022. On 13 December 2023, Khoroshilov was detained. At the same time, his mother's flat was searched again, from where they seized a set of "Young Chemist", as well as badges and symbols with the colours of the Ukrainian flag - his mother stated in court that she bought them in Ukraine as souvenirs. Khoroshilov was taken into custody. He was accused of hacking attacks on the critical structure of the Russian Federation. According to the investigation, he was involved in a DDoS attack on the website of the Russian Post. His acquaintances claim that Khoroshilov does not have the relevant skills. Khoroshilov's mother was not allowed to visit him until September 2025. In August 2024, it became known that he was also accused of high treason (according to the investigation, he collected information about the military and transferred money to the AFU). Later, two more articles appeared in his case - preparation to manufacture explosives and preparation to commit sabotage.

The expert involved in the investigation stated in court that the saltpeter and the components contained in the "Young Chemist" kit (aluminium foil and ignition agent) could be used to make an explosive substance capable of blowing up railway tracks. An expert chemist, responding to a question from T-Invariant, questioned this assertion. In addition, a female listener present at the hearing, speaking to T-Invariant, noted that the expert was unable to answer a question about how many years he had been working in the field. The judge rejected a substantial part of the lawyer's questions to the expert.

The newspaper also noted that at the trial, the state prosecutor said that Khoroshylov had transferred money to the Common Cause fund, but there is no such fund in Ukraine, while the fund with this name exists in the Russian Federation and is designed to help war veterans from the Russian side.

The OVD-Info interlocutor, who was present at the trial, also noted that Russian Post filed the lawsuit for damage to business reputation only in 2025, although the DDoS attack, which caused a 15-minute disruption in the service, occurred in August 2022 and did not cause material damage. A representative of Russian Post said that Khoroshilov's IP address was among the 500 IP addresses from which the attack was launched, but, according to the listener, this statement was not verified during the investigation, nor were the other IP addresses. Meanwhile, the defence lawyer claims that the episode in question is the only one in the case for which the investigation was able to find evidence.

On 4 December 2025, Khoroshilov was sentenced to 21 years in a strict regime penal colony.