The Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow on July 16 ordered the pretrial detention of 55-year-old entrepreneur Georgy Zakrevsky, founder of the organization 'Military Union Paladin' and its eponymous Telegram channel, according to reports from the outlet 'Ostorozhno, Novosti' and the state news agency TASS, citing law enforcement sources.
Zakrevsky is charged under Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Russian Criminal Code (public justification of terrorism or propaganda of terrorism using the internet), which carries a maximum sentence of up to seven years in prison. According to 'Ostorozhno, Novosti', the case was opened based on posts in the 'Military Union Paladin' Telegram channel.
Before his prosecution, Zakrevsky ran a Telegram channel with more than 6,000 subscribers and a YouTube channel with an audience of over 76,000. In his posts, he initially supported the invasion of Ukraine, offered bounties 'for the heads' of foreign mercenaries and a Ukrainian soldier suspected of extrajudicial killings. However, in recent months — especially after the Ukrainian Armed Forces' incursion into Russia's Kursk region — he began sharply criticizing President Vladimir Putin.
On July 12, a post on the 'Paladin' Telegram channel called for 'destroying the current 'power.'' Another post stated: 'Now only someone who has neither a brain nor a conscience can be 'for Putin.'' Earlier, in April 2024, Zakrevsky wrote that Putin 'betrayed Donbas,' 'wiped himself with the Constitution,' and 'raised lawlessness to an absolute.' 'If a person sits on the throne indefinitely and without control, then his lawlessness is boundless, and his 'roof' [protection] slips,' one post said.
Zakrevsky's Telegram channel has not been updated since July 14, presumably after his detention. He previously claimed that the private military company 'Paladin,' which he founded in the late 2010s, provides security for military facilities in Africa and employs more than 200 people. There is no independent confirmation of this information. He said he participated in combat in Donbas in 2014 as a combat training instructor and later fought in Syria and Lebanon.
According to independent media, this is the third pro-war blogger to be arrested after publicly criticizing Putin in recent weeks. On July 17, Ilya Remeslo, who called the president a war criminal, was sent to a pretrial detention center (he is charged with spreading 'fakes' about the army, facing up to 10 years in prison). On July 10, Yegor Guzenko, known as 'Thirteenth,' who fought in Ukraine and called Putin a 'shitting grandpa,' was detained on charges of inciting hatred or enmity (Article 282 of the Criminal Code), facing up to six years in a penal colony.