Turan Ustiugov

According to the investigation, from 1 April to 11 September 2024, Turan Ustiugov learned online about the activities of the Nationalist Organisation Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) fighting within the Ukrainian army and developed criminal intent to join it. He actively corresponded on Telegram with individuals whom he believed to be RVC representatives or fighters. While preparing to take part in combat with the Corps, he found online training guides "on tactics of military operations in various conditions." He applied to join RVC but was refused due to his age and lack of combat experience. On 11 September 2024, at 7:49 a.m., he sent his application for joining RVC via Telegram again; a "RVC representative" told him he would need to undergo an online interview, so he would not be included in the next intake. On 13 September 2024, not having received a reply from the RVC leadership, and searching for ways to enter Ukraine to take part in combat, he wrote on Telegram to the phone number listed on the SBU website, repeated his message by email, and said he was ready to cooperate with Ukrainian intelligence. “Oleg” told him he had to travel to Crimea for an assignment (the nature of the assignment was not specified), also interviewed him about his biography and asked for identification documents. On 27 September 2024, he left home, and according to the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan, crossed the border into Kyrgyzstan. From Bishkek, he flew to Moscow, and on 29 September travelled by bus from Moscow to Yevpatoria, Crimea, where “he intended to carry out test assignments involving crimes related to sabotage and terrorism, after which which he planned to depart on a scheduled bus along the route “Simferopol — Smolensk — Minsk” to the Republic of Belarus, then proceed to the territory of the Republic of Moldova, and subsequently cross the Moldovan–Ukrainian border to join the RVC and participate in its activities against the security of the Russian Federation.” The court removed the charge of undergoing training for terrorist activity (such as learning from manuals for Rosgvardiya or the US Army). However, the court found that his readiness, expressed in chats with RVC representatives, to go to Ukraine and undergo “basic combat training” for military service in the RVC constituted “deliberately creating conditions to commit a crime that was not completed for reasons beyond the defendant’s control” — that is, preparation for undergoing training “knowingly conducted for the purpose of carrying out terrorist activity”.