Roman Linkov

According to the investigation, no later than 20 August 2022, feeling "a hostile and negative attitude towards the socio-political regime established in the Russian Federation and disagreeing with the conduct of the special military operation in Ukraine, under the influence of materials about the subversive and terrorist activities of the Freedom of Russia Legion", decided to contact this unit, for which purpose he sent at least five messages to its Telegram bot, "in which <...> he requested information about the possibility of joining the legion, as well as the activities of the civilian and combat units of this organisation, and provided his own contact details and said that he had previously sworn an oath to Ukraine". Some time later, he was contacted by a person, in the process of communication with whom Linkov presented his personally completed application form for joining the Legion, his documents, "expressed readiness to participate in both the combat and civilian units of the legion, agreed to anonymously finance its activities, destroy Z-symbols, distribute leaflets, as well as collect and transmit information of interest to the legion", for which he provided the interlocutor with his contacts in messengers. No later than 12 September 2022, as follows from the text of the indictment, Linkov sent the interlocutor a message containing an electronic copy of a handwritten questionnaire of a candidate to join the Freedom of Russia Legion and copies of various documents. However, the correspondence with him was subsequently interrupted as the legion's website was blocked in the Russian Federation. In June 2023, the man wrote to the chatbot of the channel "I want to live", informing there about his "negative attitude to the socio-political regime established in the Russian Federation, and also expressed his consent to assist in resisting the current government in the Russian Federation", and a new interlocutor wrote to him. Roman Linkov also "agreed to assist in activities knowingly directed against the security of the Russian Federation, and was given the task of printing and distributing leaflets with the texts "MOBILISATION = CARGO 200 (designation of bodies of killed soldiers during transportation)", "KUBAN IS NOT RUSSIA", "CHECHNYA IS NOT RUSSIA" in the Penza region, but he was unable to fulfill this task due to lack of material and technical capabilities". After that, sometime in September 2023, their communication stopped. Then a third "unidentified person" contacted Linkov, whom the investigation believes to be a "representative of a foreign state" belonging to the Freedom of Russia Legion. This representative provided Linkov with "information about the ways and procedure of entering the territory of Ukraine through third countries", and the latter agreed with him that, "having joined the combat wing of the legion", he would carry out work related to the repair of military equipment, and also received a task to print and paste on the territory of Penza and the village of Zasechnoye in the Penza region, which, due to a lack of financial resources, he was unable to fulfil. Later on, for reasons unknown to the investigation, communication between Linkov and the person unidentified by the investigation was terminated at the initiative of the latter. On 20 March 2024, according to the investigation, Linkov took an "oath of allegiance" to the Legion in messenger, a video of which he sent to a third interlocutor. The oath contained the text: "I, a free citizen of Russia, of my own free will swear an oath to the the Freedom of Russia Legion in the fight for freedom, independence and a bright future for my country. Glory to Ukraine, Freedom to Russia!". He also "confirmed his readiness to transfer funds to the legion, to destroy Z-symbols, to print and distribute leaflets received from the legion's representatives, as well as to collect and provide information of interest to them, including at his place of work in LLC Gazprom transgaz Saratov". From 1 April to 31 May 2024, the man distributed leaflets containing Legion symbols and "texts against the special military operation on the territory of Ukraine" near the "Cube" shopping centre in Penza, a photo report of which he sent to the same person via messenger. However, this contact was later broken. No later than 15 July 2024, a fourth contact contacted Linkov, to whom the man again told about his intentions, after which they agreed on Linkov's departure to Ukraine to participate in combat operations. No later than 31 August 2024, Linkov "in order to leave for Ukraine and participate in the activities of the Freedom of Russia Legion, issued a document certifying the identity of a Russian citizen outside the Russian Federation and a notarial power of attorney granting his wife the right to sign and dispose of his property". However, he later informed the interlocutor that his plans had changed due to his wife's illness and asked on 2 September 2024 how he could help while staying in Russia.