The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don has sentenced three detainees in a case over an alleged plan to seize Detention Center No. 5. According to the court’s press service, 28-year-old Ukrainian prisoner of war and Aidar battalion member Volodymyr Makarenko received 22 years in a maximum-security colony, with the first six years to be served in prison.
49-year-old Sevastopol resident Dmitry Papenko was given 25 years under a special-regime sentence, with the first seven years in prison. 34-year-old Hryhoriy Sinchenko from Donetsk was sentenced to 29 years in a maximum-security colony, with the first seven years in prison, and was also fined 200,000 rubles.
All three were convicted of preparing a terrorist attack under Part 1 of Article 30 and Clauses “a” and “v” of Part 2 of Article 205 of the Russian Criminal Code. Sinchenko was additionally convicted under Part 1.1 of Article 205.1 on incitement to terrorism. Earlier, prosecutors had asked for 25 years for Makarenko, 28 years for Papenko, and 30 years for Sinchenko.
Investigators said that in July 2024, while being held in the Rostov detention center, the three men agreed to seize and set fire to the facility. The prosecution claims Papenko chose November 4, Russia’s National Unity Day, as the date for the alleged attack.
According to the prosecution’s account, Papenko and Makarenko selected metal objects and components for improvised incendiary devices and hid them in personal bags in a utility room, while Sinchenko prepared a layout showing the location of cells and other buildings.
Testimony against Papenko and Makarenko was given by a cellmate who appeared in court under the pseudonym “Santa.” He said that after taking over the detention center, the defendants planned to demand an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine, the release of Ukrainian prisoners, and the transfer of occupied and annexed territories to Ukraine.
The prosecution also alleged that Sinchenko used an “inter-cell communication” channel to persuade another Ukrainian citizen to join the plot. His lawyer argued in court that investigators had not explained how such communication could have worked technically and that Sinchenko had been transferred from Detention Center No. 5 to Taganrog two months before the supposed attack.
All three had previously received lengthy prison terms in other cases. Sinchenko, who was first detained by security forces of the self-proclaimed DPR in 2016 on suspicion of sabotage in Donetsk, was sentenced by the same court to 26 years on March 19, 2025. Papenko received 21 years in October 2024 on charges of treason, terrorism training, and attempted terrorist attack. Makarenko, a defendant in the Aidar case, was sentenced to 18 years in prison on October 17, 2025.