Judge Denis Torkunov of the Central District Military Court sentenced three Orenburg residents in a case involving preparation of a terrorist attack and sabotage. The charges stemmed from the arson of a MegaFon mobile tower and plans to set fire to an Il-76 aircraft at a military airfield. Mediazona learned of the verdict.
Yury Blednykh and Dmitry Dementyev were each sentenced to 20 years in a maximum-security penal colony, while Maksim Polukarov received 7 years and 11 months. Prosecutors had requested 21 years, 22.5 years, and 9 years and 8 months respectively.
According to the prosecution, in December 2023 Blednykh found the Telegram channel “Smelye Parni,” which offered paid criminal jobs. He contacted a handler using the nickname “Molotov,” whose identity investigators said they never established. He was allegedly offered 20,000 rubles in cryptocurrency to burn a mobile tower on Uralskaya Street. Investigators say Blednykh and Dementyev carried out the attack on the night of December 14 to 15, 2023.
The handler later ordered reconnaissance near the Polymer plant owned by Gazprom Dobycha Orenburg, but no arson followed there. The case says Blednykh and Polukarov then went to the Orenburg-2 military airfield on January 15, where they photographed aircraft and guard posts. After that, the handler allegedly offered 1.5 million rubles to burn an Il-76 using a homemade drone, but Blednykh said they refused.
Dementyev later agreed, according to the court materials, to set fire to another telecom tower because he needed money for rented housing. On March 2, 2024, FSB officers detained him on Samoletnaya Street, 77, as he was heading to the site with Molotov cocktails prepared. Blednykh and Polukarov were detained the next day near a Vkusno i Tochka cafe.
“They beat me, I lost consciousness. They brought me around, asked questions, and I said I would not answer under Article 51 and that you were violating my rights. Then they beat me again. And they strangled me with a scarf,” Dementyev told the court.
Blednykh also said during questioning that FSB officers showed him a video of the beaten Dementyev and threatened to beat him as well unless he gave a confession. In January 2026, law enforcement agencies finally refused to open a torture case: they acknowledged force had been used against Dementyev, but said it was because he resisted arrest.