The 2nd Western District Military Court has begun hearing the case of eight people accused by investigators of preparing to blow up a train in Orenburg. Mediazona’s correspondent reported this from the courtroom.
Those on trial are Sergey Yakovlev, Alexey Shchepkin, Vladimir Drofa, Igor Sharnev, Svetlana Malakhova, Anna Radionova, and Russian Railways employees Yury Martyanov and Alexey Demchenko. Investigators describe them as members of Artpodgotovka, a movement linked to Vyacheslav Maltsev that has been designated in Russia as “extremist” and “terrorist.”
The defendants face ten charges, including participation in extremist and terrorist communities, assisting terrorist activity, financing extremism, attempted terrorism, illegal manufacture and transport of explosive devices, weapons trafficking, and smuggling explosives.
According to the indictment, communication with Maltsev took place through the Telegram groups “Bright Quotes” and “Three Whales,” allegedly created by his associate. Investigators also say that in February 2024, Yakovlev and Shchepkin, acting on Maltsev’s instructions, removed the body of a man named Minaev, who was on the federal wanted list, from the home of an associate known by the call sign “Koshka.”
The prosecution says Martyanov and Demchenko passed along information about railway infrastructure, including a bridge over the tracks in Orenburg. Investigators allege the plan was to drop a remotely controlled explosive device from that bridge onto a train carrying products from the defense enterprise Strela. The bomb, according to the case, was taken in May 2024 from a cache in the Gomel region, stored in Velikiye Luki, and later moved through Voronezh and Saratov to Orenburg.
Drofa is accused of sending money to Maltsev through DonationAlerts to a crypto wallet and of renting housing for Yakovlev in Orsk. Investigators say Yakovlev and a man identified as Valery later tried to test the bomb, but when communication failed, Radionova passed them ten new SIM cards through Shchepkin.
All of the defendants were detained before the planned date of the attack. The prosecution says that on July 28, 2024, Yakovlev, already acting under оперативники’ control, dropped a mock improvised explosive device onto a passing train and informed Valery, who did not know the group had been detained. The case says Valery then attempted to detonate it remotely using an unidentified electronic device. Most of the defendants denied guilt: Sharnev and Shchepkin admitted only participation in an “extremist community,” while Drofa said he admitted guilt but did not know the other defendants.