Father and son prosecuted for opposing war and supporting opposition
In Russia's northern region of Nenets, Konstantin Ledkov was detained accused of shouting the phrase 'Glory to Ukraine'. Meanwhile, his father, living in Khanty-Mansiysk, faces up to eight years in jail for giving 300 roubles to Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK).
Former librarian from the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Konstantin Ledkov, has come under criminal prosecution due to reports from several people in his own village Krasnoye, some 2,000 kilometers north of Moscow.
Konstantin is accused activities against state security, like discrediting the Russian army and "promoting Nazi symbols."
His father, Valery Ledkov, is under investigation for transferring 300 roubles to the Anti-Corruption Foundation (RBK). By that, according to the procurator, he financed an extremist organisation, reports “OVD-Info”.
300 roubles, equivalent to €3, is about the same as the price for 500 g of butter.
In Krasnoye, not far from Naryan-Mar, Konstantin Ledkov was reported by two of his fellow villagers. They first beat him near a bar, then persuaded him to withdraw the statement, and later accused him of shouting the slogan “Glory to Ukraine!”
Ledkov himself claimed he did not utter these words. The testimonies of the informants contradict the facts: for example, the informants claim the fight outside the bar lasted a few seconds, but the paramedic recorded numerous injuries on Ledkov.
Ledkov was also incriminated for several publications on the social media platform VKontakte. Thus, the case materials include a screenshot of “Yandex.Images” search results for the query “fascist with a Nazi armband”: in addition to photographs from the Second World War, the search engine showed a picture of the well-known singer Shaman with an armband in the form of a tricolour. The repost of the video “How Nazism was Reincarnated in Russia” was considered a repeated discreditation of the army: previously, Konstantin Ledkov was fined for the phrase “No to war”, which he posted in his page.
Additionally, Konstantin Ledkov published an interview by Ukrainian blogger Vladimir Zolkin with a Russian pilot who defected to Ukraine with a helicopter. Investigators classified this post as calls for activities aimed against state security. The report regarding this video was filed by Grigory Zhdanov, a mathematics and computer science teacher at the Naryan-Mar Social and Humanitarian College. Zhdanov was offended by the criticism directed at Vladimir Putin; the teacher feared that such content could "tempt people," he stated during a court interrogation.
Zhdanov is a class teacher and conducts "Conversations about Important Matters," engaging in war propaganda there.
Konstantin Ledkov has been in pre-trial detention in Arkhangelsk since the summer of 2024.
His father, 59-year-old Valery Ledkov, is under house arrest in Khanty-Mansiysk, a city in western Siberia. He is also under investigation, accused of financing extremist activities. The reason was 300 roubles that Ledkov Senior donated to the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) on 5 August 2021 — the day after it was declared as an so-called extremist organisation.
Like his son, Valery Ledkov was previously fined for discrediting the army. The man "posted on the internet on his social page the silhouette 'NO TO WAR', thereby distorting and discrediting the tasks of using the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation," the court stated in its ruling.
Konstantin Ledkov is a former librarian. He worked in the library until 2022, but he was dismissed due to criticism of local officials: the position was cut, then reopened, and a new employee was hired. Valery Ledkov taught history in schools, was the director of a cultural centre on Kolguyev, an island in the Barents Sea. He studies the culture and traditions of the Ob-Ugric peoples throughout his life, writes and performs songs about the North.
