A 17-year-old teenager has been charged under a “terrorism” article over “Smart Voting” leaflets.

In Chelyabinsk Oblast, a 17-year-old resident of Kasli, a city in the Urals, has been charged with participating in the activities of a terrorist organisation (part 2, article 205.5 of the Russian Criminal Code) over “Smart Voting” leaflets. This was reported by Novaya Gazeta Europe.

According to the investigators, in August and September the teenager used a Telegram bot to receive recommendations for “protest voting” in the elections. Afterwards, they produced more than 150 campaign leaflets and put them up in the entranceways of residential buildings.

The pro-government TV channel RT published operational footage showing the teenager. In the video, they say they learnt about “Smart Voting” after watching videos from the Anti-Corruption Foundation on YouTube.

RT claims that the detainee is studying a technical subject. In the video, the young person also says they are engaged in programming and create “tools for people.”

As the project “Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial” notes, this is the first publicly known criminal prosecution for involvement in the Anti-Corruption Foundation specifically as a “terrorist organisation.”

The Supreme Court recognised the US legal entity of the Anti-Corruption Foundation as a “terrorist organisation” on 27 November 2025. Since June 2021, Russian authorities have also declared the foundation an “extremist organisation.”