A Sochi activist received confirmation of his son's death in the SVO zone.

DNA testing has confirmed the death of Andrei Uchkurov, who went to the military operation zone after a court verdict, according to his father, activist Grigory Uchkurov.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," Sochi resident Andrei Uchkurov, sentenced to ten years for the murder of a repeat offender, went to the combat zone himself, where he went missing. His family is unable to obtain confirmation of his death or the compensation they are entitled to. Lawyers noted that Andrei's father, Grigory Uchkurov, may need several years to gather documents and go through the courts to obtain a death certificate for his son, who went missing in the military operation zone.

Andrey Uchkurov, the son of Sochi activist and former member of the Cossack militia Grigory Uchkurov, died in the SVO zone. His father reported this in a group searching for missing soldiers, and Mediazona* drew attention to the comment.

"My search is over. The unknown person's DNA is a 100% match to my son, A.G. Uchkurov. I'm waiting for my son to come home. G.P. Uchkurov," he wrote in a Telegram chat named after the military unit where his son served. The comment was left on January 22.

The group members expressed their condolences.

As a reminder, in February 2014, Grigory Uchkurov identified Nikolai Kuts, ataman of the Central District Cossack Society, from a video among the participants in the Pussy Riot incident: Cossacks attacked them in Sochi, spraying tear gas and beating them with whips as they were trying to film a music video. "I was outraged by what I saw. It's a disgrace to all Cossacks: publicly beating women," Grigory Uchkurov told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. Following this, he was expelled from the Kuban Cossack Host. Ataman Kuts had previously admitted that he had filed a protest with the prosecutor's office against Pussy Riot's presence in Sochi, believing the girls from the punk group had come to Sochi "to provoke and stir up a scandal."

In September 2014, after a fire broke out on the territory of artificial ponds belonging to the Beysug spawning and nursery farm, Grigory Uchkurov, together with environmental activists, conducted an investigation into the incident. According to him, they were able to prove that the man-made fires were not the fault of some malicious poachers, but of the workers of the farm themselves, who annually cleared the reservoir bed in such a barbaric manner. He has repeatedly spoken out in defense of the nature of Kuban, according to the biographical note about Georgy Uchkurov.

After the oil spill in the Kerch Strait, 71-year-old Grigory Uchkurov worked as a volunteer. He came to Anapa in his own car, where he slept and ate at volunteer stations. His task was to inspect the beaches by car and report what was happening to headquarters. Another volunteer traveled with Uchkurov, filming the events and sending the recordings to the volunteer headquarters.

* are listed as foreign agents.

** Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) is banned in Russia.