MOSCOW. July 3 (Interfax) - A military court in Moscow has given lengthy prison terms to three brothers who tried to illegally cross the state border and join the Ukrainian military, the Moscow prosecutors said on Wednesday.
"Based on the evidence presented by a state prosecutor from the Moscow prosecutor's office, the Second Western District Military Court has sentenced three Ashcheulov brothers, Ioann received 17 years and six months, Alexei and Timofei to 17 years behind bars, all were sentenced to serving the first three years in prison and the remaining time in a high-security penal colony" the supervisory agency said.
The brothers were found guilty of attempted high treason (a crime envisaged by Part 3 of Article 30 and Article 275 of the Russian Criminal Code, attempted participation in the activities of an organization recognized as terrorist (Part 3 of Article 30 and Part 2 of Article 205.5), and attempted illegal crossing of the state border committed by a group of persons by previous concert (Part 3 of Article 30 and Article 322).
"The court established that the Ashcheulov brothers decided to participate in military and other actions by the Ukrainian militarized unit Freedom of Russia Legion, which was recognized by the Russian Supreme Court as terrorist and was banned on the territory of Russia," the prosecutors said.
According to the agency's information, the Ashcheulovs "developed a walking route to leave for the territory of Ukraine bypassing the established crossing points, for which they arrived in the Kursk region and walked in the direction of the state border of the Russian Federation for the purpose to illegally cross it later and for subsequent participation in military and other actions on the side of the opposing forces as members of a terrorist organization" in July 2023.
The Ashcheulovs were detained 1.5 kilometers from the Russian border.
According to media reports, the brothers are the sons of Lipetsk priest Igor Ashcheulov.