In two separate ‘trials’, Russia’s Southern District Military Court has sentenced 49-year-old Oleksiy Kornilov and Oleksiy Khanas (45) to 23 years’ maximum-security imprisonment on virtually identical charges. The latter bear no scrutiny, but that was never an obstacle in Russia’s trials of Ukrainian political prisoners even where these was some chance of following the trials. There is now essentially none, with almost nothing known about the two Ukrainians from occupied Donetsk oblast, and about the course of the trials. These were almost certainly held behind closed doors because one of the charges in each case was of ‘treason’, and even the court schedule of hearings concealed the defendants’ names.
Oleksiy Kornilov (b. 15.05.1977) is reportedly from occupied Donetsk and has been in Russian captivity for almost two years. He was seized on 22 November 2024, although the FSB only reported his ‘arrest’ on 12 December. Such time gaps, during which a person is held incommunicado, without any status, are typically used to extract ‘confessions’ through torture, threats against a person’s family or other illegal forms of duress. The FSB report includes a likely staged arrest and videoed ‘confession’ which certainly sounds like a text he has had to memorize and occasionally has trouble remembering.
The prosecution claimed that on 1 October 2024, an officer of Ukraine’s Military Intelligence [HUR] contacted Kornilov in occupied Donetsk oblast. On 21 October, Kornilov was supposed to have received instructions to gather information about a Russian military unit in Donetsk, and sent photos, a video and geographical coordinates to the HUR officer.
He then, allegedly, videoed another military unit in Donetsk on 13 November 2024 and sent this recording also, as well as a Yandex map on which he marked the military units he was aware of. Two days later, it was claimed that he had gone to the Russian ‘military command office’ in Donetsk, where he supposedly videoed the place and a car, with this also sent to the person from HUR.
On 22 November 2024, he purportedly received the coordinates of a hiding place with explosive substances and devices and went there. He was claimed to have been walking back to his car when seized by the armed and masked FSB officers, and to have been planning to blow up a car used by the Russian defence ministry.
All of this is part of a familiar genre in which the Russian FSB claim to have thwarted plans to carry out sabotage with the only ‘evidence’ coming from likely staged videos and supposed ‘confessions’.
The alleged information passed to HUR and claimed plan were about Russian military on Ukrainian territory and entirely legitimate targets. Russia, however, accused Kornilov, who had doubtless been forced to take Russian citizenship, of ‘treason’, under Article 275 of Russia’s criminal code; of explosives charges, under Article 222.1; of ‘abetting terrorist activities’ under Article 205.1 § 3; of ‘involvement in a terrorist society’ (Article 205.4 § 2); and of ‘training in terrorist activities’ (Article 205.3).
He was convicted on 27 August 2026 by ‘judge’ Vitaliy Victorovich Mamedov who sentenced him to 23 years’ maximum-security imprisonment, with the first three years in a prison, the worst of Russian penal institutions, the remainder in a prison colony. A fine of 600 thousand roubles was also imposed. There were a number of hearings, which may suggest that the earlier ‘confession’ was retracted once the trial began.
Oleksiy Khanov (b. 2.05.1981) is from occupied Mariupol. He was seized on 3 February 2025, supposedly while taking explosives from a hiding place. The FSB this time claimed to have ‘thwarted’ a plan to blow up the occupation ‘city administration’, and asserted that Khanos had also passed on information about the places of deployment of Russian military units.
Khanov was charged with ‘treason’ (Article 275); ‘involvement in a terrorist organization’ (Article 205.4 § 2); of ‘abetting terrorist activities’ (Article 205.1 § 3) and explosives charges (Article 222.1). Omission of the charge of ‘training in terrorist activities’ (Article 205.3) did not have any impact on the 23-year sentence passed by ‘judge’ Sergei Vladimirovich Braslavtsev on 25 August.
Denys Didenko
Even less is known about Didenko except that he worked in a medical institution and was seized in May 2026. He was claimed to have made contact with people from HUR and to have passed them information about places of deployment of Russian military units in occupied Donetsk oblast (the so-called ‘Donetsk people’s republic’].
The occupation ‘DPR high court’ on 25 August convicted Didenko of ‘treason’ and sentenced him to 14 years’ maximum-security imprisonment.
All of the above sentences can be appealed, however this has, thus far, only ever resulted in a reduction of one or two months, and has, on a few occasions, led to an increase in already monstrous sentences.
