Publicist Arkady Babchenko is accused not only of evading the duties imposed on a “foreign agent,” but also of justifying “terrorism” under Article 205.2, Part 2 of the Russian Criminal Code. According to a Mediazona correspondent, this became known during a hearing in his trial in absentia before judicial district magistrate court No. 412.
While reading out written evidence, the prosecutor said Babchenko had been placed on a wanted list in connection with a case over public online calls related to “terrorism.” At first, the state prosecutor referred to Article 205.1, which concerns financing “terrorism,” but then clarified that he had misspoken.
Last autumn, a Moscow resident was detained under the financing article after transferring cryptocurrency to an account whose details had previously been published by Babchenko. Babchenko himself had already been added to Rosfinmonitoring’s list of terrorists and extremists back in 2020, though the exact criminal article behind that case had not been publicly known.
It became known in May 2026 that a “foreign agent” case had been opened against Babchenko. According to the indictment, it was prompted by posts published on his Telegram channel in 2025 without the required “foreign agent” label.
Babchenko was entered into the Justice Ministry register in April 2023. After that, he was twice fined administratively for failing to comply with “foreign agent” obligations, receiving penalties of 50,000 and 30,000 rubles. The prosecutor said he did not pay them.
The state prosecutor also stressed that Babchenko disagrees with “the main directions of the foreign and domestic policy of the Russian Federation, including in the field of defense” and felt “hostility toward the president’s activities.”
The publicist left Russia in 2017.