The prosecution has requested lengthy prison sentences for those accused of attempting to set fire to the Rostov military registration and enlistment office.

At a hearing in the military court in Rostov-on-Don, the state prosecutor requested sentences of 9 to 11 years in prison for Ivan Blagodatskikh, Ilya Kudinov, and Akhmed Ramaldanov, accused of attempting to set fire to a military registration and enlistment office. Journalists discovered that an FSB informant oversaw the preparations for this arson.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," in January 2023, three young men, including two underage students, were detained. According to security officials, they intended to set fire to a military registration and enlistment office in Rostov-on-Don. The FSB identified the detainees as members of the "Revolutionary Workers' Party," claiming they planned to set fire to the military registration and enlistment offices in the Sovietsky and Zheleznodorozhny districts of the city "using homemade incendiary devices." In July 2024, an acquaintance of the detainees, Rostov resident Sergei Mishchenko, was fined 30,000 rubles for failure to report.

The Southern District Military Court has been hearing the case of Blagodatskikh, Kudinov, and Ramaldanov since February 2024. All three young men are accused of a group attempt at a terrorist attack (Part 2 of Article 205 of the Russian Criminal Code, which carries a sentence of twelve to twenty years in prison). Kudinov and Blagodatskikh are also accused of recruiting for a terrorist attack (Part 1.1 of Article 205.1 of the Russian Criminal Code, which carries a sentence of eight to fifteen years in prison).

At the latest hearing, a prosecutor's office representative requested sentences of 9 to 11 years in a maximum-security prison for the defendants: 9 years for Ramaldanov, 10 years for Kudinov, and 11 for Blagodatsky, with the first three years to be served in prison, Mediazona* reported today.

Secret witness "Ivanova," questioned before the debate, noted that Ramaldanov was planning a terrorist attack in the interests of the Revolutionary Workers' Party. All three defendants were detained on the night of January 3, 2023, while traveling by taxi to the site of the planned arson. The prosecution cited the motive of Ramaldanov and his party comrade, Kudinov, as the goal of "terminating a special military operation on Ukrainian territory and partial mobilization on Russian territory."

According to Rosfinmonitoring's register of terrorists and extremists, Akhmed Ramaldanov was born in December 2022 in Stavropol. Kudinov and Blagodatskikh are natives of Rostov-on-Don, both born in 2024. Their names were added to the list shortly after their arrest, in February 2023. According to the case file on the court's website, their next hearing took place today, and the next is scheduled for April 23.

The Role of an FSB Informant

Case materials indicate that "Ivanova," an acquaintance of Kudinov and Ramaldanov, informed FSB officers in the Rostov Region of plans to set fire to the military registration and enlistment office in December 2022. After this, the girl secretly began operating under the cover of security forces "as part of operational investigative activities": she participated in discussions of the planned arson, selecting a target, purchasing firecrackers, making Molotov cocktails, and testing them. She was also present with the three defendants during their arrest—it was her backpack that contained four Molotov cocktails, firecrackers, a US flag, and the passports of Blagodatskikh, Kudinov, and Ramaldanov.

As journalists for the publication discovered, the pseudonym "Ivanova" is actually Veronika Goretskaya, a law student who communicated with various Rostov activists. At one point, activists suspected her of collaborating with security forces: even before the case of the attempted arson of the military registration and enlistment office, "one of her friends was jailed, another was sent for compulsory treatment."

In her testimony, a secret witness described Ilya Kudinov as a "racist" with ideas of "the extermination of people, especially civil servants." According to her, Ramaldanov was "an Islamist who dreams of establishing Sharia law in Russia."

According to the witness, in August 2022, both of them were volunteers in the election campaign in the Krasnodar Territory "on the side of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation," and then, under Ramadanov's influence, Kudinov "converted to Islam by swearing an oath to Allah."

During the investigation, secret witness "Ivanova" appeared in security officials' reports as "Veronica Belova," while she communicated with journalists under her own name, Veronika Goretskaya, describing, among other things, the circumstances of the case. Details—for example, that she lent her backpack to friends to carry Molotov cocktails to the military registration and enlistment office—match the testimonies of "Belova," "Ivanova," and Goretskaya, Mediazona* summarizes.

* are included in the Russian register of foreign agents.

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