A 61-year-old retired airline pilot was on Friday sentenced to over eight years in prison by a Russian court for allegedly planning to join the Ukrainian army, Africa Today News, New York has gathered.
The pensioner’s name which was given as Igor Pokusin was born in the Ukrainian city of Odesa, poured paint on a pro-army banner in March 2022 and wrote the words “Glory to Ukraine” on the wall of a local museum in the Siberian town where he lives.
According to rights groups, after serving a six-month suspended sentence for those crimes, he was charged with “treason” based on wiretapped calls with relatives in Ukraine.
Prosecutors alleged that Pokusin, who according to local media suffers from multiple health problems, planned to travel to Ukraine to “fight against the Russian army”.
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“Pokusin was unable to follow through with his actions,” the top court in Russia’s Siberian Khakassia region said, sentencing him to eight years and one month in prison for “state treason”.
Pokusin acknowledged his opposition to the conflict, the Perviy Otdel rights group said, but denied that he planned to “fight on anyone’s side”.
Moscow made criticism of its army illegal shortly after launching its Ukraine offensive in February 2022, and thousands of the conflict’s opponents have been censored, jailed or exiled.
Africa Today News, New York reports that Pokusin’s sentencing came a day after a human rights activist was sentenced to three years in prison for allegedly “discrediting” Moscow’s army in a social media comment.
Recall that President Putin had last week revealed that Russia it is not out to fight “endlessly” in Ukraine however, it won’t also give up its positions and is ready for peace only on its own terms.
Speaking in televised comments on Monday during a visit to a military hospital, Putin said he’s satisfied with the Russian army’s performance in Ukraine as it’s now holding the strategic initiative on the front, while the opponent is “gradually deflating.” Russia is currently occupying about a fifth of Ukraine’s territory.
“We also want to end the conflict, and as soon as possible” — but “only on our terms,” Putin said. The Russian leader didn’t specify what conditions must be met for peace.
The Kremlin’s confidence has grown amid political divisions in the US and the European Union over support to Ukraine that’s held up aid to the government in Kyiv. Ukraine’s counteroffensive launched in June yielded only small gains, and Russian troops are now trying to press forward in Ukraine’s eastern regions of Donetsk and Kharkiv.