Igor Levchenko
Igor Levchenko, born 1995, Moscow Oblast. Charges: Article 282 part 2, Russian Criminal Code (Incitement of hatred or enmity (with violence, using official position, or by a group)); “The case of incitement of hatred against the Russian military in Krasnogorsk”. Sentence (June 28, 2022): 3 years' imprisonment in a general-regime penal colony. Status: not in Russia. Recognition: Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners — recognised as a political prisoner.
In brief
Moscow Oblast · Krasnogorsk · Artists · Anti-war cases, Extremism cases
Sentence
3 years
imprisonment in a general-regime penal colony
Upheld August 30, 2022
Charges
- Article 282 part 2, Russian Criminal Code — Incitement of hatred or enmity (with violence, using official position, or by a group)
Full wording of the charges
According to the investigation, on 24 February 2022 he posted a video on Instagram that contained “signs of incitement to hatred and enmity toward Russian military personnel, with threats of the use of violence and the commission of their killings.”
Latest event
March 11, 2025 — added to the rosfinmonitoring list of “terrorists and extremists”
Recognition by rights defenders
- Recognised as a political prisoner — Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners
Timeline
· Added to the Rosfinmonitoring list of “terrorists and extremists”
· Imprisonment ends
· Appeal ruling
upheld
· First-instance verdict
guilty verdict · 3 years
· Persecution begins
The case of incitement of hatred against the Russian military in Krasnogorsk
Criminal case
The case of incitement of hatred against the Russian military in Krasnogorsk
Thematic group: Anti-war case
Details and sources
Full summary
Born in Donetsk, the singer moved to the Moscow region after the outbreak of the war in Donbas. On 11 March 2022, he was summoned to a police station and detained for several days over a video in which he expressed hostility toward Russian military personnel. While in police custody, he was coerced into recording an apology video. On 15 March, Levchenko was taken to the Investigative Committee, where a criminal case on charges of incitement to hatred was initiated. He pleaded guilty and was placed in pre-trial detention.
On 28 June 2022, Levchenko was sentenced to three years in a general-regime penal colony. During his transfer, while held in a pre-trial detention centre in Togliatti, he was subjected to beatings accompanied by the taunt: “So, glory to Russia or glory to Ukraine?”
Levchenko was released on 18 December 2024.
In October 2025, reports emerged that he had been stripped of Russian citizenship.
All fields of the record
- Citizenship
- Ukraine
Other people prosecuted under Article 282 part 2, Russian Criminal Code
Under the same article, not necessarily in the same case.