Sergey Volkov

Resident of Ivanovo, architect. In May 2022, he was prosecuted for rehabilitation of Nazism because of his posts arguing that Joseph Stalin "abandoned" Leningrad and that the USSR authorities were no less guilty than the Germans for unleashing World War II. Volkov links the criminal prosecution to his criticism of Russia's military actions in Ukraine. However, the case file shows that operatives began monitoring his Telegram channel as early as October 2021, and in January 2022 Mail.Ru provided the investigation with Volkov's personal correspondence. At the same time, the case file was mainly filled with correspondence mentioning the war in Ukraine. The jury that heard Volkov's case was disbanded - the defence believes that the jury was going to acquit him. After that, a new panel in July 2023 found him guilty. In September 2023, Volkov was sentenced to a fine of two million roubles.