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The Central District Military Court in Yekaterinburg, a major city in the Urals, has sentenced 55-year-old Hieromonk Yevgeny Pinchuk (Nikandr) to five and a half years in a general regime penal colony on charges of justifying terrorism (Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code). This was reported by Father Ioann Kurmoyarov, a priest from St Petersburg who previously served a sentence over a case concerning “fake news” about the military.

According to Kurmoyarov, the prosecutor had requested a sentence of six and a half years in prison.

The verdict was also announced by the Investigative Committee, which clarified that Pinchuk was convicted over a positive comment “regarding the actions of members of an organisation” designated as terrorist in Russia. He posted this comment in July 2023.

According to a source cited by the news outlet Kommersant, the criminal case was initiated after Pinchuk called the founder of the “Russian Volunteer Corps” a “handsome guy” and expressed his “respect” for him.

Pinchuk has been held in pre-trial detention since October 2025.

According to the Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial project, the priest also faces separate charges of rehabilitating Nazism (Article 354.1 of the Criminal Code) and inciting extremism (Article 280 of the Criminal Code). Kurmoyarov also reports on these two other criminal charges, in addition to the charge of justifying terrorism.

  • Yevgeny Pinchuk headed the parish of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad in Verkhoturye, a small town in the Urals. In October 2022, he was convicted in a criminal case for repeated discrediting of the army (Part 1, Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code). He was then fined 100,000 roubles (about US$1,100) for a post in which he referred to the actions of Russian troops in Ukraine as an act of aggression. Previously, he had faced administrative charges for making anti-war statements.