Mikhail Savva

According to OVD-Info

On March 14 and April 10, 2013, after the start of a campaign of inspections of non-profit organizations by the Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of Justice and other regulatory bodies, two searches were conducted in the office of the Krasnodar Regional Public Association "Southern Regional Resource Center", of which Savva was the director: the interest of law enforcement agencies in the activities of the organization was connected with the fact that it received a grant from the administration of the Krasnodar Territory "Building Peace" in the amount of 820 thousand rubles 820,000 roubles (≈US$27,300 as of March 2013), aimed at normalizing relations between representatives of the Uzbek and Tajik diasporas and the indigenous population of Kuban, of which 366 thousand rubles were spent on conducting a sociological study "The Potential for Socialization of Migrants in the Krasnodar Territory" with the aim of identifying the number of migrants that the region can accept without the emergence of negative trends in the sphere of interethnic relations; On April 11, 2013, a criminal case was opened against Savva and his acquaintance Victoria Remmler under the article on fraud in receiving payments using his official position on a large scale; the next day, FSB officers conducted a six-hour search of Savva's house; on April 13, he was arrested by the court, representatives of the media and supporters were not allowed into the courtroom; on May 15, another criminal case was opened against Savva under the article on fraud; the scientist was accused of receiving 90 thousand rubles (≈US$2900 as of May 2013) from Kuban State University for a course of lectures that he had not delivered; he was held in pre-trial detention until December 4, 2013, when the court changed his preventive measure to house arrest; on April 2, 2014, Savva was sentenced to three years probation with two years probation and a fine of 70 thousand rubles; In January 2015, Savva was placed on the federal wanted list for allegedly leaving for Ukraine. On March 2, 2015, Savva's suspended sentence was commuted in absentia to three years' imprisonment in a penal colony.

On 20 April it became known that a new criminal case of fraud committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy was opened against Savva: he is suspected of embezzlement of budgetary funds while receiving payments of more than 150 thousand rubles (≈US$4830 as of April 2013). According to the investigation, the classes declared in the training course were not conducted in full: a number of teachers who were paid a fee did not actually give lectures and did not receive money for them.

In October 2023, Savva was included in the register of "foreign agents". No later than 2025, a case was brought against him for failure to fulfil the duties of a "foreign agent". On 21 January 2026, scientist Savva was sentenced to three and a half years in absentia, taking into account the punishment for the previous case.