Ilya Korkach

A resident of the Moscow region. His relatives claim that in 2021 he and his friends were met by a man who called himself a special forces veteran. Later it became known that he was an FSB informant. After the acquaintance, he began to systematically provoke discussions on sensitive topics: suggesting to look for sponsors in Ukraine, discussing possible terrorist attacks, criticising the authorities. He recorded all the conversations. Korkach and his friends often disagreed with him, but they did not dare to openly object, out of respect for him as a "veteran".

The support group of Korkach and other persecuted persons claims that their interlocutor offered them to learn how to throw Molotov cocktails in an abandoned, detached building. He also recorded these activities on devices issued to him by the FSB.

Additionally, he showed Korkach and the two other pursued persons a pistol several times, which he said he had been brought from Ukraine as a trophy, explicitly saying that he could teach them how to handle the pistol, as he was a combat veteran and had previously served in the 604 CSN "Vityaz". They practised the weapon handling techniques after him, using air pistols.

Participation in these meetings was later qualified as undergoing training with the intent to carry out terrorist activities.

The support group claims that by December 2022, most of those prosecuted in the case had already stopped communicating with the "veteran".

In May 2023, Korkach was detained on suspicion of preparing to bomb a military unit in Balashikha and taken into custody. He was accused of participating in the activities of a terrorist community and receiving training for the purpose of carrying out terrorist activities. However, he was not present on the territory of the military unit and had not been in contact with the others prosecuted in the case for about six months.

The support group claims that during the convoy they put a gun to Korkach's head and demanded that he tell how the group he was accused of involvement in "kept in touch with the Khokhls". On 29 July 2025, he was sentenced to 16 years in a strict-regime penal colony.