The court sentenced the Ukrainian Armed Forces militants to 15 and 16 years in prison for seizing Sudzha.

The Second Western District Military Court sentenced military personnel of the armed formations of Ukraine (VFU) Vladimir Odnochko, Sergei Pogromsky, Nikolai Tyazhkorob to 16 years in prison and Alexander Plaksiv to 15 years. This was announced on March 14 by the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation.

During the investigation, it was established that in early August 2024, armed fighters of the VFU with explosive devices illegally invaded the Kursk region. On the territory of the Sudzhansky district, they repeatedly opened fire to kill Russian servicemen and civilians.

As noted by "Gazeta.Ru", the court agreed with the position of the state prosecutor and sentenced Odnochko, Pogromsky and Tyazhkorob to 16 years in prison, while Tearful was sentenced to 15 years in prison. All four convicts will spend the first three years in prison, and the rest of the term in a high—security colony. They were found guilty under clauses "a" and "b" of Part 2 of Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Terrorist act").

"All the defendants were detained in August 2024 and were in custody until sentencing," the ministry said in a statement on its website.

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Earlier on March 12, a court sentenced captured military personnel of the VFU Andrei Anisimov and Dmitry Labunsky to 16 years in prison for a terrorist attack in the Kursk region. According to law enforcement agencies, in August 2024, armed fighters of the VFU illegally crossed the border of the Russian Federation.