A Russian soldier freed in a prisoner swap with Ukraine has been sentenced to four years in a penal colony after he gave interviews to a Ukrainian blogger, the exiled news outlet Mediazona reported Monday, citing court records.
The Moscow City Court found Pavel Guguyev guilty on charges of “confidential cooperation” with foreign nationals, Mediazona said.
Guguyev had been serving a 12-year sentence in a high-security prison for murder, bodily harm and theft before joining the invasion.
With two years remaining on his sentence, he signed a military contract and was deployed to Ukraine, where he was later captured.
While in captivity, Guguyev gave an interview to Ukrainian blogger Dmitry Karpenko in which he described heavy Russian losses on the battlefield, comments that quickly went viral.
Guguyev gave a second interview to Karpenko in July 2023, after he was released in a prisoner exchange and returning to Russia.
He again criticized Russia’s military leadership and claimed officials had urged him to publicly state that his first interview was given “under pressure” from the Ukrainian side.
Guguyev was arrested again in June 2024 and placed in pre-trial detention, Mediazona said.
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