Kattakurgan resident recruited into Russian army sentenced to 3 years and a month

The verdict was delivered on September 11, 2026: the court found the Kattakurgan resident guilty of mercenarism and entering the military service of a foreign state (Part 1 of Article 154 and Part 1 of Article 154-1 of the Criminal Code). He was taken into custody in the courtroom. He expressed remorse and asked for leniency.

According to the verdict, in 2023 the man went to work in Russia, where he was detained on charges of drug trafficking. In court, he stated that heroin had been planted in his pocket, and that he was forced to plead guilty after two months of torture. According to him, the Vladivostok City Court sentenced him to 12 years in prison.

In a penal colony in Krasnoyarsk, Russian Ministry of Defense personnel pledged him citizenship, release from punishment, and a large sum of money in exchange for participating in the war against Ukraine. On December 9, 2025, he signed a one-year contract.

According to the convict, on December 17, a drone hit the building of the military unit in Ukraine where he was located, and he was pulled from under concrete rubble. After two and a half months of treatment, he escaped from a military hospital in Saint Petersburg, reached Moscow, and returned to Uzbekistan using a certificate of return.