A teenager from Stavropol received a lengthy prison sentence for posting leaflets.

A court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced a minor resident of Stavropol to 6.5 years in prison on four terrorism-related charges. His 20-year-old accomplice received a fine.

The case of two young Stavropol residents was heard by the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don. Both were charged with terrorist propaganda (Part 1 of Article 205.2 of the Russian Criminal Code). The younger defendant was also found guilty of involvement in a terrorist organization (Part 2 of Article 205.5 of the Russian Criminal Code) and two counts of incitement to terrorist activity (Parts 1 and 1.1 of Article 205.1 of the Russian Criminal Code).

According to the prosecution, in February 2024, the minor resident of Stavropol contacted a representative of a terrorist organization banned in Russia via instant messaging. In the correspondence, he "agreed to providing assistance to an unfriendly state" with the aim of harming the security of the Russian Federation, the regional prosecutor's office said in a statement today.

The teenager, according to the prosecutor's office and the court, "on instructions from his supervisor" distributed "propaganda leaflets for a banned group" in Stavropol and also recruited a 20-year-old local resident into this activity.

The Stavropol Krai Investigative Committee also published a statement about the verdict with some details: according to the agency, the minor defendant was 16 years old when he joined the banned organization in March 2024, and his older accomplice was 19 years old. At the time of the sentencing, they were 17 and 20 years old, respectively.

"The defendants, in exchange for monetary compensation, produced leaflets promoting the activities of a terrorist organization and posted them in public places in Stavropol," according to a statement on the Investigative Committee's official Telegram channel. The prosecutor's office made no mention of the monetary compensation, and the young men were not charged with money laundering.

The court sentenced the juvenile defendant to 6.5 years in a correctional facility, and his adult accomplice was fined 200,000 rubles.

According to the records of the Southern District Military Court, a guilty verdict was announced on November 28 in the case against Denis Dovydenko and a second defendant, whose details are concealed in the case file. Dovydenko, a native of Budyonnovsk, turned 20 in April 2025 and is listed on the Rosfinmonitoring Service's list of terrorists and extremists. His details were added to the list on November 18, 2024, according to a message from a bot that tracks list updates.

The criminal case against Dovydenko became known in May 2024. The charge of public justification of terrorism was related to the distribution of leaflets, according to the human rights project OVD-Info*. According to the project, Dovydenko remained free until his sentencing, under a travel restriction.