Sons of priest Igor Ashcheulov confessed to treason: what is known, why they wanted to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine, how they were detained, what they face

The sons of the Russian priest Igor Ashcheulov did not challenge in court the charges of attempted high treason in connection with the intention to join the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) and admitted to the alleged crimes.

On July 1, the Second Western District Military Court began considering a criminal case against the three sons of Igor Ashcheulov, a minister of the Orthodox Church from Lipetsk. At the meeting, the men expressed their attitude to the charges brought against them. So, John admitted to what he had done, however, like his brother Timothy, he stated that he did not consider it guilt. Another defendant, Alexey, chose not to comment on the charges.

Sons of Lipetsk priest detained while trying to cross border

The brothers were detained in the Kursk region while attempting to illegally cross the state border between Russia and Ukraine. The men were planning to go over to the side of the Ukrainian military and fight on the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

According to the indictment, they planned to join the Freedom of Russia Legion (recognized as terrorist and banned in Russia), having previously contacted its representatives on social networks, and decided to participate in hostilities against the Russian Federation. Each of the men was charged under three articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: attempted treason, illegal crossing of the Russian state border by a group of persons by prior conspiracy, and an attempt to participate in the activities of an organization that, in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, is recognized as terrorist.

For the last of the three charges alone, each of the men faces up to 20 years in prison.

The Russian Orthodox Church responded to the case against the sons of a priest. The Lipetsk diocese received information about this with sorrow and noted that it was difficult for them to answer the question of why this became possible. They also emphasized that the head of the family who came to the attention of law enforcement officers has not been a clergyman of the parishes and monasteries of the diocese since 2008.

Earlier, an outstanding Russian scientist was convicted of treason

In May, Anatoly Maslov, a researcher at the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (ITPM) of the Siberian Branch (SB) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, was convicted in a treason case. A Russian scientist at the age of 78 was sentenced to 14 years in a maximum security colony. While in pretrial detention, the specialist suffered a heart attack. According to the lawyer, the deterioration in the scientist’s well-being occurred due to stress. At the same time, she noted, Maslov did not receive proper medical care.

The physicist was arrested in the summer of 2022 in Novosibirsk, when he worked as a chief researcher at the ITAM SB RAS. He was a leading specialist in the field of viscous gas, and his main area of ​​scientific activity was aerogasdynamics.

The criminal case against the scientist is classified, but it became known that charges of treason may be related to the transfer of data related to hypersound to China. Maslov did not admit his guilt.