Roman Ivanishin. Screenshot: Okno
A military tribunal in Russia’s Far East has sentenced a man to 15 years in a penal colony for voluntarily surrendering to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), state-affiliated business daily Kommersant reported on Tuesday.
Roman Ivanishin, who served with the 39th Guards Motorised Rifle Red Banner Brigade, was found guilty of surrender, attempting to surrender, and desertion from his military unit. He was also stripped of his rank of junior sergeant.
The prosecution had requested a 16-year sentence for Ivanishin, while the defence asked the court to acquit him, insisting there was no proof that he had committed the crimes he was charged with. Ivanishin pleaded not guilty.
Ivanishin, a miner from the island of Sakhalin in the Russian Far East, was mobilised and deployed with his unit to the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. According to independent news outlet project Okno, after attempting unsuccessfully to desert once, he succeeded the second time, on 10 June 2023, when he gave himself up to the AFU near the village of Stepne, in the Donetsk region.
Video footage subsequently appeared online of Ivanishin saying that he and his comrades were against the war, did not want to fight and had decided to desert their positions.
Ivanishin and 247 other servicemen were exchanged for Ukrainian prisoners in early January 2024. He was detained upon arrival in Sakhalin.
Ivanishin’s is the first known conviction for voluntary surrender to the AFU since the offence was added to the Russian Criminal Code in 2022, Kommersant said.
