Andrei Bogdanov
Andrei Bogdanov, born 1962, Tatarstan. Charges: Article 280.3 part 1, Russian Criminal Code (Discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, government agencies, or mercenaries); “The case of attempted arson of a military recruitment centre in Zelenodolsk”. Sentence (November 5, 2025): 4 years 6 months' imprisonment in a general regime penal colony, with a 4-year prohibition on engaging in activities… Status: imprisoned; deprived of liberty since September 6, 2022; place of detention: Penal colony No. 2, Tatarstan.
In brief
Tatarstan · Zelenodolsk · Unemployed · Anti-war cases, Cases related to mass actions
Sentence
4 years 6 months
imprisonment in a general regime penal colony, with a 4-year prohibition on engaging in activities related to the administration of websites, electronic, and information-telecommunication networks, including the Internet.
First instance, November 8, 2024: 4 years 6 months
Charges
- Article 280.3 part 1, Russian Criminal Code — Discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, government agencies, or mercenaries
Full wording of the charges
According to the investigation, on 4 September, he threw a bottle with a liquid resembling a Molotov cocktail in the direction of the Zelenodolsk military recruitment centre. No fire occurred. He is also suspected of repeatedly discrediting the Russian Armed Forces. On 14 March 2022, Bogdanov was fined twice, 15,000 rubles each, under two administrative protocols for discrediting the army (Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences) for participating in solitary pickets. During one picket, he held a poster reading, "Citizens, the Fatherland is in danger, our tanks on foreign soil!" — a quote from Aleksandr Galich. During the other, his poster stated, "No to ZZonderoperation, bring the boys home! To their mothers, not as cargo 200."
Latest event
November 5, 2025 — cassation
The court changed the sentence to 4 years 6 months.
Timeline
· Cassation ruling
sentence changed · 4 years 6 months
· First-instance verdict
guilty verdict · 4 years 6 months
· Preventive measure: ban on certain activities
· Preventive measure: pre-trial detention
· Persecution begins
The case of attempted arson of a military recruitment centre in Zelenodolsk
Criminal case
The case of attempted arson of a military recruitment centre in Zelenodolsk
Thematic group: Anti-war case
Write a letter
Facility: Penal colony No. 2, Tatarstan
Address (in Russian, as written on the envelope)
420021, Республика Татарстан, г. Казань, ул. Производственная, д. 18, ФКУ ИК № 2 УФСИН России по Республике Татарстан, Богданов Андрей Николаевич, 1962 г.р.
Details and sources
Full summary
Resident of Zelenodolsk (Tatarstan). According to his own words, since 27 February 2022 he has been going out on pickets with a poster that the Fatherland is in danger. On 14 March, he was fined 15 thousand rubles for such a picket under the article on discrediting the use of the Russian Armed Forces (20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences).
Bohdanov claims that he corresponded with someone in Ukraine and asked how he could go there.
On 6 September 2022, Bogdanov was taken into custody on a case of damaging property by arson. While in the pre-trial detention centre, he reported that he was not receiving medical care. He had hypertension, however, he was unable to obtain a tonometer. In addition, he needed to have temporary titanium implants removed from his arm and leg, but he couldn’t get to a surgeon either, and his arm was almost immobile.
On 1 March 2023, Bogdanov's preventive measure was replaced with a ban on certain actions. At the same time it became known that a case of discrediting the Armed Forces was also initiated against him. The combined case was transferred to court, but on 17 November 2023 it was returned to the prosecutor's office. In December, the case came back to court.
On 20 June 2024, the case was suspended because, as the court card said, "the defendant absconded." On 4 July it became known that Bogdanov was declared wanted. As the persecuted man himself later told "Mediazona" in a letter, he went into the forests, but on 31 October he was detained. The case was reopened. On 8 November 2024, Bogdanov was sentenced to four and a half years in a general regime colony.
In addition, in February 2024, he was sentenced to two years' suspended sentence in the case of violence against a police officer. We have no reason to consider this case political.
On 5 November 2025, the court of cassation instance commuted Bogdanov's sentence due to a change in the qualification of the charges, details are unknown.
All fields of the record
- Citizenship
- Russia
Other people prosecuted under Article 280.3 part 1, Russian Criminal Code
Under the same article, not necessarily in the same case.