Photo: Alexandra Astakhova / Mediazona
A Moscow court has handed a lecturer a 16-year custodial sentence on terror charges for helping the Ukrainian secret services plan a drone attack on the city of Kursk, independent news outlet Mediazona reported on Tuesday.
According to investigators, Eldar Marchenko went to the city of Kursk, in southwestern Russia, from his home in Moscow on the instructions of the Ukrainian special services and provided coordinates for the local airport to his Ukrainian handlers by phone.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine then directed drones at the city, though they failed to reach their target, Mediazona reported from the court.
The prosecution had demanded a sentence of 19 years in a high-security penal colony for Marchenko, close to the maximum allowable term for the offence.
Marchenko pleaded not guilty to the charges, and said he had been tortured into a false confession by officers from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) shortly after his arrest. The prosecution denied this, saying Marchenko had admitted his guilt before he had even reached the police car when he was first detained on 1 August 2024.
Marchenko was subject to three periods of administrative arrest, before being arrested and presented with criminal charges. Prior to his arrest, Marchenko had taught management at Moscow’s RMA business school.
