Vladimir Makarenko
Vladimir Makarenko, born 1997. Charges: Article 205.3, Russian Criminal Code (Receiving training for the commission of terrorist crimes); 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): 18 years' imprisonment in a strict regime penal colony. Status: imprisoned; deprived of liberty since April 19, 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
Military personnel · Terrorism cases
Sentence
18 years
imprisonment in a strict regime penal colony
Upheld June 2, 2026
Charges
- Article 205.3, Russian Criminal Code — Receiving training for the commission of terrorist crimes
- 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 was trained at the training centre of the Armed Forces of Ukraine "Yavoriv military base" in the village of Starichi in Lviv region, joined the 24th separate assault battalion "Aidar", where, among other things, he conducted surveillance of servicemen of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and passed information to the command, and participated in combat operations in the Telmanovsky district of the DPR and in the Krymskoye settlement in the Luhansk People's Republic, used assault rifles and anti-tank grenade launchers, and committed acts in the Ukrainian-occupied territories of the Republic aimed at forcibly seizing power and changing the constitutional order of the DPR.
Latest event
June 2, 2026 — appeal
The court upheld the verdict.
Recognition by rights defenders
- Recognised as a political prisoner — Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners, September 13, 2024
Timeline
· 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 · 18 years
· Recognised as a political prisoner
Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners
· Preventive measure: pre-trial detention
· 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
- Vitalii Krokhalev — Imprisoned, 16 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, Макаренко Владимир Александрович, 1997 г.р.
Details and sources
Full summary
Vladimir is a sniper who served in the Ukrainian Aidar Battalion. He was captured in the spring of 2022 and held in the occupied territory of Ukraine’s Donetsk region. He was initially charged under several articles of the Criminal Code of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). After the Russian Federation declared the DPR part of its territory, the charges were reclassified under the Russian Criminal Code: Makarenko was accused of participating in the activities of a terrorist organisation, the violent seizure of power, and undergoing training for the purpose of carrying out terrorist activity. Human rights defenders note that he is a prisoner of war and therefore should not have been criminally prosecuted essentially for taking part in hostilities; moreover, they regard the charges as absurd. On 17 October 2025, Makarenko was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment in a strict-regime penal colony.
On the same day, a case was filed with the court against Makarenko and two other convicts, alleging preparation of a terrorist attack in the pre-trial detention centre in Rostov-on-Don.
All fields of the record
- Citizenship
- Ukraine
Other people prosecuted under Article 205.3, Russian Criminal Code
Under the same article, not necessarily in the same case.