Judge Artem Korolev delivered the verdict, Mediazona reported. Podnebesny was found guilty under Part 1 of Article 134 of the Criminal Code, which covers sexual intercourse with a person under 16. Under Part 1 of Article 135, lewd acts with a person under 16, the court released him from punishment because the statute of limitations had expired.
According to the St. Petersburg Investigative Committee, on Aug. 2, 2024, the blogger committed lewd acts with a minor in a shopping center on Nevsky Prospekt, and the following day had sex with her in an apartment on Telezhnaya Street. The court's press service later reported episodes at the Fish Fabrique bar. The Insider writes that videos also appeared on social media showing Podnebesny kissing a 15-year-old girl.
Before the verdict, Podnebesny said that he and the girl love each other and that no crime occurred. According to him, one month remained until the age of consent when they slept together. He called the criminal case "pedohysteria." He also said he wrote a book in the pretrial detention center, but a cellmate destroyed it, and promised to write another one about his suffering at the hands of women.
The blogger himself claimed he partially admitted guilt because he had been misled and did not know the girl's age. One episode of the charges, he said, was invented by security forces. Initially he called the girl his fan and said she spread false rumors to boost her popularity among his subscribers.
Podnebesny was detained on Aug. 19, 2024, and arrested two days later. The same day, Ekaterina Mizulina, director of the Safe Internet League, said she had asked the Investigative Committee to check the incident. In March 2025, hearings began behind closed doors at the Kuibyshevsky Court; in May the blogger was released under a ban on certain actions. He traveled to the hearings from Nizhny Novgorod.
Podnebesny is described as a thought leader among Russian incels, a movement of men who believe women unfairly deny them sex. He is the author of the theory of "vaginocapitalism." In interviews he said that if women gave sex to all men, and not only to the 5% who are the most handsome and successful, society would be in harmony. Podnebesny previously worked as an investigator for the prosecutor's office in Nizhny Novgorod.