Since the start of the war, more than 700 people in Russia have been convicted in treason and espionage cases, whereas before 2022 such verdicts were rare. A substantial share of these prosecutions is tied to Article 275.1 of the Criminal Code on confidential cooperation with a foreign state. Human rights advocates say charges under this article are increasingly being upgraded to “full” treason under Article 275, exposing defendants to sentences of up to life imprisonment.
Yevgeny Smirnov, a lawyer with First Department, told Novaya Gazeta Europe that the active wave of reclassifications began in autumn 2024, with the peak coming in winter and spring 2025. According to him, some cases were reclassified during the investigation, while others were changed after sentencing through the Supreme Court and prosecutors. In his estimate, there have been several dozen such cases.
Smirnov said it is difficult to distinguish between Articles 275 and 275.1 because their wording is so similar. He said the FSB initially used Article 275.1 for conduct it considered less serious, such as sending photos of military equipment, reporting military events, or filming strikes. Later, he argues, security agencies and prosecutors began treating almost any completed instruction as grounds for a treason charge.
He added that about 95% of these cases are connected to Ukraine, involving contacts with Telegram channels, media outlets, organizations, or individuals whom the prosecution links to the Ukrainian side. If a person merely made contact, it was more often treated as Article 275.1; if they sent information or carried out a request, it was treated as Article 275.
“I would even say that most treason cases now are the result of provocation,” Smirnov said.
As an example, he cited the case of Ivan Tolpygin from Oryol, who was sentenced in summer 2024 under Article 275.1 to four years in a general-regime penal colony. According to Smirnov, the verdict materials state that the correspondence was conducted with a security service officer as part of an operational experiment, and that the supposed “representative of Ukraine” did not actually exist.
Smirnov disagreed with the view that Article 275.1 will disappear entirely from legal practice. In his assessment, the number of such cases is already declining, but the article will remain in use for situations involving only contact or correspondence without transferring data or taking further action.