Arkhangelsk FSB opens two treason cases in a week
"1937 is back," a soon-deleted comment on social media said as the treason-hunters are looking to spark fear among the population in Arkhangelsk Oblast.
The secret police this week posted a video of the arrest that took place about two months ago. A 37-year old man was detained by two masked FSB officers at his office in the tallest building in Arkhangelsk, next to the Lenin square. A third officer was filming.
The film that are reposted by several local media, though, looks staged.
Siting behind his desk, the 37-year old and his colleague do not at all look surprised when the FSB officers enters the office of "Just" - a law firm in Arkhangelsk. The detained is a lawyer.
According to FSB, the man was this week charged with state treason.
"The suspect, on the instructions of a foreign curator, collected and passed on to representatives of Ukrainian intelligence information about the deployment and redeployment of units of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which are classified as official secrets in the field of defense," the FSB in Arkhangelsk region said.
It is unclear why it took two months from the arrest before any information about the man's whereabout became public.
State treason carries a punishment of 12 to 20 years.
"1937 is back," a person wrote on social media. The post was soon delated.
1937 is referring to the year Stalinist show-trials reached record high during the repressive period known as the Great Terror.
Russia has become a country of fear. Few dare to speak out.
Earlier this week, another man was detained in Konosha, a town in the southern part of Arkhangelsk Oblast, near the border with Vologda Oblast.
Little information is made public, but according to media outlet News29, FSB has charged the suspect of "collecting and transmitting data on the Russian air defense system to Ukrainian military intelligence."
The alleged crime to place in 2023.
Russian authorities have since the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine opened a unprecedented number of treason cases. According to exiled human lawyer Ivan Pavlov, the founder of “Pervy Otdel” (“First Department”), there used to be two or three sentences a year before 2014.
"In 2015 there where 15 high treason sentences (Article 275 in Russia's criminal code)," Pavlov tells. In 2022 there were 16 and in 2023 t grew to 39 verdicts. The number of people currently charged with high treason is unknown as it takes up to two years from a case is initiated until a verdict in court is made public.
