Gennady Limeshko

Since November 2015, he served in the Armed Forces of Ukraine - first in the Aratta battalion and later in the Right Sector assault company. In May 2017, Limeshko was discharged for inaptitude because of "repeated violation of army discipline". According to his mother, after his dismissal he moved to Mariupol, but after 9 August he stopped getting in touch with his family. On that very day, Limeshko arrived in Crimea, and, according to the Ukrainian Border Service, he did not have any prohibited items with him.

By August 12, Limeshko was already arrested on charges of "carrying out acts of sabotage" in Crimea, where, according to the investigation, he was supposed to destroy a power line and to arrange a rockslide to block the Sudak-Novy Svet highway. The FSB published a video of the detention, where a man was lying on the ground with a bag of TNT pellets and an anti-personnel grenade next to him.

Later, the FSB published fragments of Limeshko's interrogation, in which he said that he was preparing sabotage on the instructions of the SBU officers and for a reward from them.

Rimma Ryzhkova, Limeshko's mother, is sure that these confessions were made under pressure and torture: "After the detention, his nose was broken and there were abrasions on his cheek, and on this video a fool can see that everything is masqued with cream, only his eye is black.

Limeshko was officially charged under articles on illegal possession of weapons and explosives, as well as manufacturing explosives.

The case was considered using a special procedure, without questioning witnesses and examining evidence, as Limeshko made a deal with the investigation and admitted his guilt. The hearing lasted no more than an hour.

The defendant was defended by an appointed defence lawyer who had joined the litigation three days before the verdict.

On May 10, 2018, the court sentenced Limeshko to eight years in a general regime colony.

Since the summer of 2023, the colony staff began to put pressure on Limeshko. On August 26, he was informed that he would be transferred to a strict detention unit before the end of his sentence because he allegedly incited Russian citizens to fight on the side of Ukraine. Representatives of the FSB visited Limeshko in the colony and questioned him about his links with the SBU.

In February 2025, after the end of his sentence, Limeshko was taken to the Centre for Temporary Detention of Foreign Citizens. Later he was taken away from there, and since March 13, 2025, there has been no contact with him.

In July 2025, Limeshko was placed on the Rosfinmonitoring's list of extremists and terrorists. Soon, the law enforcement-affiliated telegram channel Say No to Extremism reported that Limeshko was convicted on charges of calls to extremism because of posts on social media in which he allegedly called for violence on ethnic grounds. The man was sentenced to two years in a strict regime colony.