Maksim Rachkov

A resident of Rostov-on-Don, master’s degree holder at the Laboratory of Electromagnetic Field-Assisted Methods for Processing of Novel Materials at the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI. After the beginning of the war, Rachkov left Russia but later returned. A friend of Rachkov reported that the case was opened after his return, on April 27. Rachkov was placed under surveillance, and on July 21, searches were conducted at his and his relatives’ homes. He was detained and taken into custody. Initially, Rachkov was charged with the dissemination of knowingly false information about the Armed Forces for reasons of political hatred (Paragraph D Part 2, Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code), but after three forensic linguistic examinations, the charge was reclassified to the Part 1 of the same article. In addition, Rachkov was accused of possession of drugs without the purpose of sale (Part 1, Article 228 of the Criminal Code); the drugs were allegedly found during the search. On April 6, 2023, Rachkov was sentenced to one and a half years in a colony-settlement. Considering the time he had already spent in custody, Rachkov was released shortly thereafter.