The sentence was handed down on September 30, according to the Kaliningrad outlet Russky Zapad, which was flagged by Lithuania's Lrytas. A court press release dated October 1 gives only the first letter of the surname, O.; the sole ruling from September 30 matching the description in the case file belongs to 68-year-old Igor Odintsov from the town of Neman on the border with Lithuania.
The case reached the military court in September, but proceedings were suspended on September 17 because the defendant had fled. That same afternoon, Lithuania's border service recorded that a 68-year-old Russian citizen had swum across the river to them and requested political asylum.
He did not receive asylum. The border guards refused and returned the man to Russia that evening, saying there had been no data indicating he was in danger. The service added that the man's health had been looked after and that he had been provided with dry clothes.
In a new comment to Lrytas, the border service now denies that the Russian had requested asylum in accordance with all the rules. It said it doubted whether a statement that was not expressed clearly and understandably could be considered an application for international protection. According to the border guards' account, the man allegedly changed his mind after the procedures were explained to him.
Lithuanian Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas had earlier said the Russian filed an application and that the State Security Department was assessing the situation. Sigitas Shamborskis, chairman of the Lithuanian community of the Kaliningrad region, confirmed to Lrytas that the man tried was the same one who swam to Lithuania in September, and called the Lithuanian services' decision to send him back criminal.
Odintsov was detained on September 21, and the sentence was handed down on the 30th. The military court described the defendant as an opponent of the "special military operation" who holds radical views and has a negative attitude toward Russian state authorities. The basis for the criminal case was information materials in an unnamed messenger about recognizing the ideology and practice of terrorism as correct.
According to Meduza, the sentence was handed down under Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code, which covers public calls for terrorist activity on social media. The portal Ruwest writes that Odintsov spoke out against Russia's war in Ukraine. Russian investigators frequently classify Ukrainian attacks and operations in Russia under terrorism articles, so authors of posts approving of them are prosecuted under articles on justifying terrorism.
Sources differ: Lithuania's border service maintains that the man did not express a request for protection clearly and changed his mind after the procedures were explained, whereas Lithuanian Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas had earlier stated that an asylum application was filed. According to him, the State Security Department assessed the situation and decided to return the Russian.