Dmitri Seleznev

Dmitri Seleznev is a resident of Barnaul. He worked as a construction labourer at a café, engaged in stock market investments, and was a member of the Altai Krai Chess Federation. On 22 June 2023, he was detained and taken into custody the following day. A criminal case was opened against him on charges of attempted terrorism and high treason. According to investigators, he added an insecticidal substance to the water at a field kitchen in order to poison mobilised servicemen.

Seleznev himself maintains that the field kitchen was intended not for mobilised personnel but for emergency responders taking part in training exercises, and that he did not poison the water but merely staged a poisoning to impress acquaintances in Ukraine. At the same time, the FSB claims that as early as September 2022 it had information indicating that Seleznev “had for many years maintained contact with representatives of Ukrainian right-wing radical and nationalist communities”. His telephone communications were monitored, and FSB officers gained access to his electronic devices.

On 26 July 2024, he was sentenced to 20 years in a strict-regime penal colony. On 21 November 2024, the appellate court amended the sentence; further details are unknown.

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