Savely Frolov, 21, has been arrested in Vladikavkaz. He faces the charge of attempted defection, Dept. One human rights project reports.
Sergey Frolov. Photo: Paper Kartuli
The investigation believes that Frolov was attempting to join the Freedom of Russia Legion, an armed unit operating as part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The court hearing was held on 12 December. The man was placed in custody until 11 February 2023.
Head of Dept. One Dmitry Zair-Bek told Novaya Gazeta Europe that Frolov faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.
“Several days ago, the news emerged that the first criminal case of ‘attempted treason in the form of defection’ was opened in Russia. It is Igor Pokusin from Abakan, he is 60, and he was detained in the Krasnoyarsk airport. And now we learn that a second criminal case was opened, but this time around it is not about the attempt but the ‘plans’ to commit treason. The maximum punishment under this article is not 20 but 10 years in prison.”
“Savely is in Vladikavkaz. He was placed under arrest by Vladikavkaz’s Leninsky District Court. It is another unusual thing because
traditionally, in these cases [treason] people are transferred to Lefortovo [Prison in Moscow], and they are investigated by the FSB in Moscow rather than regional agencies.”
“In this case, the case materials were filed by the FSB border control service, and the case is heard there, North Ossetia,” Zair-Bek said.
He noted that it is unclear how cases of the new form of “treason” will unfold because there are no recorded judicial precedents.
In late October, Paper Kartulu reported that Frolov vanished at the Russian-Georgian border, citing his girlfriend Malika Bakhtiarova. In the morning of 30 October, he told her that he will be inspected by FSB officers. Later, Frolov’s mother was told by the police that her son “signed a letter of declining to cross the border between Russia and Georgia and got off the bus”.
The next day, Savely Frolov managed to call his parents and say that he was at a police station in Vladikavkaz. He was arrested for 15 days for petty hooliganism.
Frolov’s friends wrote online what he had told them: FSB officers are prepping to interrogate him. FSB officers subsequently called Frolov’s mother from his phone and asked about her relation to Savely and what she could tell them about her son. Frolov’s friends noted that he supported anarchist and anti-Fascist views.
Earlier on 14 December, the news emerged that Krasnoyarsk resident Sergey Ulukshonov, 30, was sentenced to 4 years and 8 months in high-security prison. Russia’s FSB claimed that he was planning to travel to Ukraine to fight on Kyiv’s side. He was allegedly consulted by a Ukrainian resident online.
