Vitalii Krokhalev
Vitalii Krokhalev, born 1980. Charges: Article 205.5 part 2, Russian Criminal Code (Participation in the activities of a terrorist organization); Article 278, Russian Criminal Code (Violent seizure of power or alteration of the constitutional order); “The case of fifteen servicemen in the Aidar battalion”. Sentence (October 17, 2025): 16 years' imprisonment in a strict-regime penal colony. Status: imprisoned; deprived of liberty since April 23, 2022; place of detention: Pre-trial detention centre No. 5, Rostov Oblast. Recognition: Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners — recognised as a political prisoner, September 13, 2024.
In brief
Former military personnel, Drivers · Terrorism cases
Sentence
16 years
imprisonment in a strict-regime penal colony
Upheld June 2, 2026
Charges
- Article 205.5 part 2, Russian Criminal Code — Participation in the activities of a terrorist organization
- Article 278, Russian Criminal Code — Violent seizure of power or alteration of the constitutional order
Full wording of the charges
According to the investigation, he joined the 24th Separate Assault Battalion Aidar, where, among other things, he conducted surveillance on the troops of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), relayed information to his command, and took part in combat operations in the Telmanovsky District of the DPR and in the settlement of Krymskoe, Lugansk People’s Republic. He made use of automatic rifles and anti-tank grenade launchers and, in the territories of the Republic occupied by Ukraine, committed acts aimed at the violent seizure of power and the alteration of the constitutional order of the DPR.
Latest event
June 22, 2026 — added to the rosfinmonitoring list of “terrorists and extremists”
Recognition by rights defenders
- Recognised as a political prisoner — Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners, September 13, 2024
Timeline
· Added to the Rosfinmonitoring list of “terrorists and extremists”
· Removed from the Rosfinmonitoring list
· Appeal ruling
upheld
· Imprisonment begins
Pre-trial Detention Centre №5 (SIZO-5) of the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation for the Rostov Oblast
· First-instance verdict
guilty verdict · 16 years
· Recognised as a political prisoner
Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners
· Preventive measure: pre-trial detention
Pre-trial Detention Centre №1 (SIZO-1) of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russian Federation for the Rostov Region
· Persecution begins
The case of fifteen servicemen in the Aidar battalion
Criminal case
The case of fifteen servicemen in the Aidar battalion
- Case number
- 1-21/2025 (1-49/2024; 1-211/2023;)
Other defendants in the case
- Viacheslav Baidiuk — Imprisoned, 16 years
- Igor Gaiokha — Imprisoned, 18 years
- Vitalii Gruzinov — Imprisoned, 21 years
- Vladislav Ermolinskii — Imprisoned, 20 years
- Semen Zabairachnyi — Imprisoned, 20 years
- Sergei Kalinchenko — Imprisoned, 21 years
- Vladimir Makarenko — Imprisoned, 18 years
- Roman Nedostupa — Imprisoned, 21 years
- Sergei Nikitiuk — Imprisoned, 20 years
- Taras Radchenko — Imprisoned, 20 years
- Alexandr Taranets — Imprisoned, 20 years
- Dmitry Fedchenko — Imprisoned, 15 years
- Nikolai Chuprina — Imprisoned, 20 years
- Andrei Sholik — Imprisoned, 16 years
Thematic group: The case of military service in the Aidar Battalion
Write a letter
Facility: Pre-trial detention centre No. 5, Rostov Oblast
Address (in Russian, as written on the envelope)
344064, Ростовская область, г. Ростов-на-Дону ул. Тонельная, 4, ФКУ СИЗО-5 ГУФСИН России по Ростовской области, Крохалев Виталий Юрьевич, 1980 г.р.
Details and sources
Full summary
Vitalii served as a driver in the Ukrainian Aidar battalion in 2018. At the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he was working at a car wash in Kyiv. On 18 March 2022, he was detained in his native Donetsk Oblast. He was charged under several articles of the Criminal Code of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic. After the Russian Federation declared the DPR part of its territory, the charges were reclassified under the Russian Criminal Code. Krokhalev was accused of participating in a terrorist organisation and the violent seizure of power. Human rights activists note that he is a prisoner of war and therefore should not have been criminally prosecuted merely for participating in military actions. They also consider the charges absurd. On 17 October 2025, Krokhalev was sentenced to 16 years in a strict-regime penal colony.
All fields of the record
- Citizenship
- Ukraine
Other people prosecuted under Article 205.5 part 2, Russian Criminal Code
Under the same article, not necessarily in the same case.