Over the past month, Russia’s Southern District Military Court has sentenced two Ukrainians to six and seven years’ imprisonment for expressing their views on social media. These were only the worst sentences from the ever-increasing number of prosecutions for ‘dissident opinions’ that Russia has brought to Ukrainian territory under its occupation.
Natalia Pukash
On 17 February, Natalia Pukash, a 52-year-old resident of Kalanchak in occupied Kherson oblast, was sentenced to six years in a medium-security prison colony for two videos and accompanying comments on social media.
The charges against her were of ‘justifying terrorism’, under Article 205.2 § 2 of Russia’s criminal code, and of ‘calls to actions aimed against the security of the Russian state’ (Article 280.4 § 2c).
It was claimed that she had ‘justified terrorism’ through a video about Vladlen Tatarsky, a notorious Ukrainian-born Russian pro-war propagandist and military blogger. He was killed in a targeted attack in St Petersburg on 2 April 2023, with Russia, which regularly bombs Ukrainian residential buildings, hospitals and playgrounds, claiming this to have been a ‘terrorist attack’. Pukash posted the video on 3 April 2023, with a comment underneath which, according to the prosecution, justified his killing and, supposedly, ‘terrorism’.
The second charge was over a video posted on 24 August 2023, with a call underneath for Russian soldiers to surrender and to hand over their military technology to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, with the prosecution asserting that remuneration was offered for this. This call to Russian soldiers invading a sovereign state was claimed to be “aimed against the security of the Russian Federation”.
Natalia Pukash (b. 8 October 1973) was reported to have been ‘arrested’ in March 2025, with the video, showing the woman’s blurred face ‘expressing repentance’, was doubtless made by the Russian FSB while Pukash was held incommunicado without access to a proper lawyer.
The sentence on 17 February was passed by Oleg Aleksandrovich Cherepov , one of the ‘judges’ from the Southern District Military Court who have handed down numerous sentences against Ukrainian political prisoners.
Denys Shevchenko
On 27 January 2026, the same Southern District Military Court sentenced 29-year-old Denys Shevchenko to seven years’ medium-security imprisonment for comments made on social media.
He was charged with ‘calls to [or justification of] terrorism’, also under Article 205.2 § 2 of Russia’s criminal code and circulation of ‘military fakes’ under Article 207.3 § 2d. The latter is one of four draconian charges rushed into law within ten days of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It is regularly used to imprison people for entirely true statements about Russian war crimes in Ukraine, etc., with the Russian defence ministry’s denial used as ‘proof’ that the information is “knowingly false”.
The supposed ‘call to terrorism’ was, according to the court report, linked with a post on Telegram where Shevchenko allegedly called for Russian leader Vladimir Putin to be killed.
The supposed ‘fake’ was over a post on 24 June 2023 about Yevgeny Prigozhin’s revolt and attempt to advance on Moscow. It was claimed that Shevchenko had circulated “knowingly false information about a unit of Russia’s armed forces having left their position” where Russia is waging its war against Ukraine, and to have set off in the direction of Moscow.
It is not clear when Shevchenko was arrested, but he was placed on the notorious Rosfinmonitoring ‘list of terrorists and extremists’ back in May 2025, with the case against him passed to the court in August that year.
The sentence was passed on 27 January 2026 by Alexander Vasilievich Generalov, another ‘judge’ noted for his willingness to pass huge sentences against Crimean Tatar and other Ukrainian political prisoners.
The renowned Memorial Support for Political Prisoners Project has added both Natalia Pukash and Denys Shevchenko to their list of people whose criminal prosecution is very likely to be politically motivated.
Ivan Kemichadzhi
On 16 February, the Southern District Military Court sentenced a young Mariupol man to five and a half year’s medium-security imprisonment for four comments on Telegram, all of which were treated as ‘justification of terrorism’, under Article 205.2 § 2.
The charges were, in fact, over four posts, from 10, 16, 29 January and 5 February, concerning the Russian Volunteer Corps, a Russian nationalist formation which is fighting on Ukraine’s side against the Russian invaders.
The sentence was passed by ‘judge’ Oleg Dmitrievich Terentiev who is less notorious than the others named here but has also taken part in political trials.
Other victims
On 17 February, Danylo Marusenko, b. 2001, received an 18-month suspended sentence, passed by an occupation ‘court’ in Melitopol under Article 280 § 2, so-called ‘public calls to carry out extremist activities’. The FSB claimed that he had published “calls to carry out hostile and violent actions” against Russian citizens.
Very often, unfortunately, the names are not made public. On 18 February 2026, for example, RIA South reported that a 23-year-old woman from occupied Melitopol had been fined for social media comments made in September 2022. The FSB had apparently found the comments, regarding the fake ‘referendum’ Russia staged at gunpoint in September 2022. The young woman’s clearly negative attitude was now treated as “a call to violate the territorial integrity of the RF”. She was fined 70 thousand roubles,
