Statute · Russia
Article 275.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
confidential cooperation with a foreign state
The Detained has documented 43 cases in Russia in which this article was charged. 25 ended in a prison sentence, with a median of 5 years and the longest at 20 years. Torture or ill-treatment was reported in 4 of them.
Article 275.1 was inserted on 14 July 2022 by Federal Law No. 260-FZ. It criminalizes establishing and maintaining "confidential cooperation" with a foreign state, international or foreign organization, or their representatives, in order to assist activity "knowingly directed against the security of the Russian Federation", and provides for two to eight years. It is the article used when the facts do not reach the treason standard of Article 275 but the FSB wants a state-security conviction.
The documented cases involve contact with Ukrainian or European organizations, correspondence with journalists or volunteers abroad, and, in several instances, correspondence with what the person believed was a foreign contact and turned out to be an FSB operation. As with treason, the trials are closed and the public record is thin. The provision is new enough that every prosecution under it is a post-2022 case, which is why the year series below starts where it does.
In force since 14 Jul 2022
Inserted by Federal Law No. 260-FZ on 14 July 2022. There were no prosecutions under this article before that date.
0 arrests before 2022 · 34 arrests since 2022
Arrests by year
| 2022 | 3 |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 7 |
| 2024 | 13 |
| 2025 | 10 |
| 2026 | 1 |
| n/a | 9 · arrest date not published |
Charged together with
- Art. 275 (6)
- Art. 214 (2)
- Art. 205.2 (2)
- Art. 30 (2)
- Art. 205.5 (2)
- Art. 280.3 (1)
- Art. 297 (1)
- Art. 222.1 (1)
All documented cases · 43
| Name | Arrested | Sentence | Place of arrest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alexandra Krasnikova | 21 May 2026 | 15 years | Krasnodar Krai, Russia |
| Nikolai Yurevich Elankin marketing and advertising | 1 Jul 2025 | no sentence recorded | Moscow |
| V.T. Ishnazarov | 26 Jun 2025 | no sentence recorded | Moscow |
| Marat Asanbekovich Gadzhiev | 24 Jun 2025 | no sentence recorded | Saint Petersburg, Saint Petersburg |
| Maria Boncler Lawyer | 28 May 2025 | 15 years | Kaliningrad |
| Maria Vladimirovna Bonczler Lawyer | 28 May 2025 | 8 years | Kaliningrad |
| Maria Boncler Lawyer | 28 May 2025 | no sentence recorded | Kaliningrad, Russia |
| Valery Vladimirovich Dobrovolsky | 29 Mar 2025 | no sentence recorded | Zaporozhye village, Kamchatka Krai |
| Valeria Dobrovolsky | 26 Mar 2025 | no sentence recorded | Kamchatka |
| Alexander Borisovich Voevodkin entrepreneur, CEO of MPK Trust LLC | 14 Mar 2025 | no sentence recorded | St. Petersburg |
| Mirzabeg Murtazaliev IT specialist | 1 Feb 2025 | no sentence recorded | Botlikh, Dagestan |
| Ivan Nikolaevich Kartashov | 17 Dec 2024 | no sentence recorded | Saint Petersburg, Saint Petersburg |
| Sergey Solomko former commander of an internal affairs battalion | 1 Oct 2024 | 20 years | Crimea |
| Sergei Anatolyevich Makarkin Pensioner | 17 Sept 2024 | no sentence recorded | Moscow |
| Roman Evgenevich Linkov Gas welder at Gazprom Transgaz Nizhny Novgorod | 11 Sept 2024 | no sentence recorded | Zasechnoye village, Penza region |
| Alexander Viktorovich Krechetov | 1 Aug 2024 | no sentence recorded | |
| Kurabegov Magomed Asadulaevich Businessman | 29 Jun 2024 | no sentence recorded | Dagestan |
| Nikolai Valeryevich Malkerov Engineer-designer, builder | 3 May 2024 | 4 years | Kostroma |
| Viktor Valerevich Nikitin | 28 Apr 2024 | 5 years | Khabarovsk |
| Roman Vladimirovich Mayorov individual entrepreneur | 21 Mar 2024 | 4 years | Shchelkovo, Moscow region |
| Gennady Leonidovich Novitsky Security guard | 1 Mar 2024 | 3 years | Rostov-on-Don |
| Evgeny Alexandrovich Zakharov | 1 Mar 2024 | 4 years | Yakutsk, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) |
| Kveselevich Ivan Konstantinovich Lawyer | 1 Feb 2024 | 2 years | Kaliningrad |
| Sergei Vladimirovich Veselov civil activist, blogger, engineer, individual entrepreneur | 22 Jan 2024 | 8 years | Shuya, Ivanovo region |
| Nika Aleksandrovna Novak Journalist, poet | 24 Dec 2023 | 4 years | Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai |
| Pavel Aleksandrovich Guguev Contract soldier in the Storm-Z unit | 15 Dec 2023 | no sentence recorded | |
| Aleksandr Evgenevich Grigoriev Cook-confectioner | 12 Nov 2023 | no sentence recorded | |
| Anton Georgievich Zaitsev | 1 Nov 2023 | 3 years | Pechory, Pskov Oblast |
| Klimkin Anton Vladimirovich Researcher at the Institute of Atmospheric Optics named after V.E. Zuev | 1 Sept 2023 | 2 years | |
| Vyacheslav Alexandrovich Lutor Specialist in the outgoing communications department at Bank St. Petersburg | 8 Jul 2023 | 10 years | Moscow (Vnukovo Airport) |
| Valery Petrovich Lizun | 26 Jun 2023 | 5 years | Yalta, Crimea |
| Daniil Dmitrievich Krinari Designer, Civic activist | 21 Dec 2022 | 5 years | Saint Petersburg |
| Daniil Stepanov Construction worker | 2 Dec 2022 | 4 years | Aleksin, Tula Oblast |
| Vladlen Alekseevich Menshikov electrician | 27 Sept 2022 | 14 years | St. Petersburg |
| Banar D. | date unknown | 8 years | Moscow, unknown region |
| Mehriban Vagif kyzy Lukinskaya Former factory worker, then entrepreneur | date unknown | 5 years | Ryazan |
| Arsentiy Derenucza Construction worker | date unknown | 5 years | Altai Krai |
| Kuzmichev Andrey Vladimirovich System Administrator | date unknown | 3 years | Saint Petersburg |
| Aleksey Vladimirovich Detychev Deputy Chairman of the Khabarovsk Regional Branch of the Red Cross | date unknown | 4 years | Khabarovsk |
| Boris Sergeevich Kadochnikov | date unknown | 4 years | Simferopol |
| Bedarev Aleksey Yuryevich Auto mechanic | date unknown | no sentence recorded | Primorsky Krai |
| Vadim Anatolyevich Krivoruchko Head of the Center for Psychophysiological Diagnostics of the Ministry of Internal Affairs | date unknown | no sentence recorded | Sakhalin region |
| Kuznetsov Maxim Viktorovich | date unknown | no sentence recorded | Volgograd |
Questions
- What is "confidential cooperation"?
- The law does not define it beyond "establishing and maintaining" a relationship with a foreign party to assist activity against Russian security. In the documented cases it has meant messaging, interviews and information sent to foreign organizations.
- Why not charge treason instead?
- Treason requires proving the person actually assisted activity against the state. 275.1 needs only the cooperation itself and a claimed purpose, so it is easier to prove and still results in a state-security conviction.
How to write to a political prisoner in Russia
How we define a political prisoner
Other statutes in Russia
- Article 207.3 · military "fakes"
- Article 280.3 · "discrediting" the army
- Article 205.2 · justification of terrorism
- Article 275 · high treason
- Article 205.5 · participation in a terrorist organization
- Article 282.2 · participation in an extremist organization
- Article 280 · calls to extremism
- Article 354.1 · rehabilitation of Nazism
- Article 205 · terrorist act
- Article 212 · mass riots
- Article 318 · violence against a representative of authority
- Article 214 · vandalism
Counts are of published records in The Detained’s database for Russia that carry this article, matched after normalizing how sources write it, as of 12 Nov 2026. They are a documented minimum: cases not yet published or not yet linked to the article are not counted. Each row links to the case record and its sources.