Maxim Dmitrienko

According to the investigation, at the end of February 2022, "being a contracted serviceman of the French Foreign Legion and an opponent of the decision of the President of the Russian Federation V. Putin on the 24th of February, 2022, to conduct a special military operation on the territory of Ukraine, <...> Dmitrienko decided to participate on the territory of Ukraine as part of an armed formation — the International Legion of Territorial Defence of Ukraine, not provided for by the legislation of this state". According to the court's verdict, the investigation established that while at his place of duty in the city of Auban in the French Republic, Dmitrienko established contact with a Ukrainian citizen who was the head of the International Military Cooperation Department of the National Academy of Land Forces of Ukraine named after Hetman Petro Sagaidachny. The name and surname of this employee of the educational institution of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine are concealed in the verdict. However, it is alleged that in his position he was engaged in the recruitment of "volunteers among foreign citizens to participate in combat operations on the territory of Ukraine against the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation as part of illegal armed formations". Allegedly, while in France, Maksim Dmitrienko purchased at his own expense "a set of technical devices designed to modernise weapons", which he could later use for weapons issued to him in Ukraine. In addition, he purchased "a compass, medications, tactical glasses, shooting gloves, a bag for dropping magazines from weapons, which he also planned to use while performing his functional duties as a member of the International Legion of Territorial Defence of Ukraine". The investigation also proves that after leaving France in early March 2022, Dmitrienko travelled to Poland, where he tried twice to enter the territory of Ukraine. His goal was to get to the location of the National Academy of Land Forces of Ukraine named after Hetman Petro Sahaydachny. However, officers of the State Border Service of Ukraine did not let Dmitrienko into the country because of his Russian passport. Dmitrienko then allegedly decided to enter Ukraine via Russia. From Poland, he went to Latvia, then to Estonia, from where he entered the territory of the Russian Federation on the 22nd of March, 2022, and arrived in Moscow via St. Petersburg. From Moscow, Maksim Dmitrienko was going to go to his native Volgograd.