Crimea: Man accused of attempted high treason years after extremism trial

Alushta resident Albert Kruglov has been charged with attempted high treason and participation in a terrorist organisation, Russian sate news agency TASS reports, citing Russia’s Southern district military court.

The trial starts on 18 April.

Back in June 2019, an Alushta city court sentenced Kruglov to 20 months of imprisonment and a fine of 60,000 rubles (about €800 at the exchange rate of 2019). He was found guilty of illegally manufacturing and storing explosives as well as of public calls to extremist activity.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) officers claimed in June 2018 to have seized two makeshift explosive devices with projectiles, disguised as “a thermos and a bottle”, TASS quotes. Kruglov, identified by the FSB as an “adherent of pagan ideology”, also allegedly posted online calls to religion-based violence.

According to TASS, he admitted his guilt during the investigation.

On 7 April, amendments to the Russian Criminal Code proposing life imprisonment for high treason were introduced in the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament. The amendments also propose a substantial increase in both the minimum and maximum sentences for several crimes, including for “terrorist attacks” and for “assistance in carrying out terrorist activities”.