Nikita Gorbunov

A resident of Novosibirsk, employee of an IT company. Gorbunov grew cannabis at home. In May 2022, after an unsuccessful attempt to leave Russia, he came to the Federal Security Service's reception office and submitted a statement addressed to the head of the agency, Alexander Bortnikov. Later, as reported by the media outlet "Pervy Otdel", Gorbunov noticed that someone had gained remote access to his iPhone.

On 12 January 2023, operative officers came to Gorbunov's house and informed him that an anonymous call had been received from his phone to the train station, reporting a bomb threat. A criminal case was initiated against him for making a false bomb threat, Gorbunov was listed as a witness. According to him, he had not made any calls to the railway station and he presented a call log from his phone as evidence. After that, he was taken to the police station at the railway station, where documents for a home search were prepared, the search began at 10:00 PM and continued until the early morning. During the search, oxygen tanks were found. When asked what they were, he said: "These are oxygen tanks, they are designed to blow up a military infrastructure facility." After the search, Gorbunov was taken for interrogation at the Federal Security Service's office. In a letter from the pre-trial detention centre, he claims that he planned to leave for Europe on 14 January and then attempt to join the "Russian Volunteer Corps" or the "Freedom for Russia" legion. On that very day, he was supposed to get his passport back, which he had submitted for obtaining a visa. He claims that he never planned to carry out a terrorist act, and mentioned the explosion of infrastructure only out of surprise; at the same time, there is no other evidence of an intention to commit a terrorist attack, apart from his own words. On 14 January, Gorbunov was taken into custody on charges of preparing for a terrorist attack, confidential cooperation with a foreign state, cultivating of plants containing narcotic substances, and attempting to sale drugs. Gorbunov writes that he was forced to plead guilty on all the accusations. On 25 December 2024, he was sentenced to nine years in a strict-regime penal colony.

The court of appeal dropped the charge of cultivating narcotic plants and reduced his sentence by three months on 5 May 2025.