Verdict issued in one of the first treason cases against a service member. Kirov soldier...

A verdict has been issued in one of the first treason cases against a service member. A soldier from Kirov tried to recruit a former fellow cadet into the Russian Volunteer Corps

The Central District Military Court sentenced Nikita Bogomolov, a 36-year-old former junior sergeant from Kirov, to 17 years in a maximum-security penal colony, Mediazona reports.

The former soldier was found guilty of treason, absence without leave, facilitating terrorist activity and participating in a terrorist organization.

According to the prosecution, in July 2023 Bogomolov exchanged messages on VKontakte with a user whom security officials believe to be an unidentified member of the Ukrainian armed forces. In January 2024, the soldier left his unit in Novorossiysk—field post number 11180—and returned to Kirov via Ulyanovsk.

In early July, Bogomolov joined the Russian Volunteer Corps and decided to begin recruiting new members. In particular, he spent a month talking to a former fellow cadet from command school named Vorobyov and telling him how to join the corps.

He also offered to forward Vorobyov’s documents and photos to representatives of the corps and assured him that he would not face criminal liability for doing so. Bogomolov also explained how to enter Ukraine through neighboring countries while posing as a volunteer.

FSB officers detained Bogomolov on August 21, 2024; he has been held in pretrial detention since August 23.

The court stripped Bogomolov of his military rank and his second-class Medal for Courage. He had fought in the war in Ukraine from 2022 until early 2024.

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