Another young Ukrainian from occupied territory has received a sentence higher than that often passed by Russian courts for murder. Although the articles of Russia’s criminal code were serious, Anton Bondarenko (b. 11.01.1998) was, in all likelihood, arrested because of a post on social media.
With Russia having imposed an effective information blockade on all occupied territory, virtually all that is known about Anton Bondarenko is the little provided by the occupation regime and Southern District Military Court which passed sentence on 22 November. The authoritative Memorial Support for Political Prisoners Project reported back in November 2024 that Bondarenko’s ‘case’ was one of fifteen against Ukrainians that occupation prosecutors has passed to the Southern District Military Cour just in October 2024. Memorial wrote then that the charge of ‘state treason’ under Article 275 of Russia’s criminal code indicated that Bondarenko has Russian citizenship. As reported earlier, the charge is immensely cynical given that Russia has made it all but impossible to live on occupied territory without taking Russian citizenship. The second charge, under Article 205.2 § 2, is for supposed ‘justification of terrorism’ or ‘public calls to terrorism’ via the Internet, etc.’ Memorial pointed out then that this this charge is generally applied over social media posts. While the content of any specific cost is not known, there have been numerous sentences where a person was convicted of the same charge for having stated, for example, that Russia’s illegal Crimean Bridge is a legitimate target for Ukraine’s Armed Forces. With Russia abusing its terrorism legislation to persecute Ukrainian political prisoners; civic journalists and activists from the Crimean Tatar human rights movement, etc. the scope for abuse of Article 205.2 is just as broad.
The vast majority of Russia’s ‘trials’ of Ukrainian civilians are on charges of ‘‘treason’ or ‘spying’ (where the person was abducted in the first months of Russia’s full-scale invasion and / or does not have Russian citizenship). This means that even if the ‘trial’ takes place at a Russian court, all hearings are behind closed doors. Judging by the basic details available on the court site, there were a reasonable number of hearings, with this perhaps suggesting that Bondarenko denied one or both of the charges.
The court’s press service reported that the announcement of the verdict and sentence had taken place on 22 September 2025.
It was, purportedly, ‘established’ that Bondarenko had “committed treason in the form of spying, and had also made public calls to carry out terrorist activities with the use of the Internet.”
He had, it was alleged, posted a message on the Internet on 4 March 2023, with this, supposedly, “calling for terrorist activities to be carried out.”
He was also claimed to have ‘made contact with another person acting in the interests of Ukraine’s Military Intelligence and agreed, for financial remuneration, to gather and pass on information about the Russian Federation’s armed forces. He was asserted to have
He was accused of having, 14 times, between 3 May and 20 September 2023, gathered information about the deployment of military technology, as well as about the Russian military personnel deployed in Horlivka, with these geolocated, and passed to this same “other person” via messenger, with this “information that could be used against the security of the Russian Federation.”
Russia’s use of its legislation on occupied territory and illegal ‘trials’ and imprisonment in Russia are in breach of international law, regardless of whether there is any proof to back the allegations. It seems likely that there is none, and despite the minimal information available, the Memorial Support for Political Prisoners Project has placed Anton Bondarenko on its list of people whose trials and convictions are probably politically motivated. Aside from the dates, this indictment is virtually copy-pasted from countless others against Ukrainians from occupied territory. Even the claim that the passing on of information was ‘for remuneration’ is typical, with Russia’s FSB and prosecutor torn between their wish to churn out multiple ‘spying trials’ and reluctance to admit that Ukrainians living on Ukrainian territory would be prompted by patriotism to help defend their country.
The report asserts that Bondarenko was ‘detained’ on 20 November 2023 and “his criminal activities stopped”.
The 16.5-year maximum-security sentence was passed on 22 September 2025 by ‘judge’ Ilya Nikolaevich Bezgub who has already taken part in similar ‘trials’ of Ukrainian political prisoners.
