In the two years and nearly four months since the war in Ukraine began, 101 minors in Russia have been included in the Rosfinmonitoring list of terrorists and extremists. These figures are reported by the 7x7 publication.

Criminal cases against teenagers are initiated for setting on fire relay cabinets on railway tracks or attempting to do so, setting fire or trying to set fire to military enlistment offices, anti-war graffiti, discussing plans to shoot up or set fire to schools, suspicion of collaborating with the banned Freedom of Russia Legion, and other reasons.

Here are some examples cited by the human rights group Department One:

Valery Zaitsev, 15 years old

Valery is a ninth-grader from the town of Solnechny in the Khabarovsk region. He and his acquaintance Nikita Turlaev are prosecuted because of a video where the teenagers threw Molotov cocktails at the wall of an abandoned building. According to the investigation, the schoolboy supported the Azov Battalion and underwent terrorist training. The then 14-year-old ninth-grader was taken from the hospital, where he had been treated for tuberculosis for six months.

Classmates of Zaitsev say he has Ukrainian roots and supported Ukraine even "before the start of the Special Military Operation."

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Yegor Balazeikin, 17 years old

According to the investigation, on February 12 of last year, the then 16-year-old St. Petersburg high school student Yegor Balazeikin attempted to throw bottles with an incendiary mixture at a military enlistment office building near the Novocherkasskaya metro station in St. Petersburg. On February 28, he went to Kirovsk, where he was detained after throwing a Molotov cocktail at the local military enlistment office building, which did not catch fire.

Initially, Balazeikin's actions were considered attempts to damage or destroy property or hooliganism, but the case was soon reclassified as terrorism. On November 22, 2023, Yegor was sentenced to six years in prison under the article "attempted terrorist act" for two unsuccessful attempts to set military enlistment offices on fire, during which no one was injured.

According to Yegor, his action was not a terrorist act. He intended it to serve as a symbolic protest, designed to draw attention to and oppose the military operations and death of people in Ukraine.

Lyubov Lizunova, 17 years old

Lyubov is involved in the "Chita anarchists' case." She administered Telegram channels dedicated to protests against the war in Ukraine, partisan actions, leftist ideology, animal protection, and problems in the Zabaykalsky Krai.

Lyubov Lizunova and Alexander Snezhkov are being prosecuted for the graffiti "Death to the Regime" and a Telegram channel post approving the arson of military enlistment offices. Lizunova is charged with calling for terrorist activities and extremism, as well as vandalism motivated by political hatred.

In April 2024, the 1st Eastern District Military Court sentenced her to 3.5 years in a penal colony.

Additional Context

• Following the invasion of the Russian army in Ukraine, military enlistment offices, police stations, city administration buildings, and United Russia party offices have been set on fire across Russia. After the announcement of mobilization, the number of such attacks increased significantly.
• No one died or was injured as a result of those arsons. Persons detained for attempted arson are most often charged under articles on terrorism. More than 30 cases have already resulted in sentences, the harshest being 19 years in a penal colony for two anti-war activists for setting fire to a city administration building in the Chelyabinsk region.
• In December 2022, Vladimir Putin signed a law increasing the punishment for sabotage. It provides for life imprisonment and alsliability for participating a "sabotage community."
• In March 2024, the Russian government approved a bill introducing criminal liability for sabotage from the age of 14. Currently, criminal punishment under this article can be imposed if the crime was committed by a person who has reached the age of 16.

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