The editor-in-chief of Pepel, an online outlet covering news in the southwestern Belgorod region, has reportedly been charged by Russia’s FSB security service with publicly justifying terrorism.
Fonar, another regional news outlet, said Nikita Parmenov stands accused of making statements in support of the Russian Volunteer Corps, a far-right paramilitary group composed of Russians fighting alongside the Ukrainian army.
It was not immediately clear what statements specifically the FSB was referring to, Fonar reported. The criminal charge carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.
Pepel suggested that the accusations of justifying terrorism could stem from a YouTube interview in which Parmenov said he was unable to condemn Russians who take up arms to help Ukraine defend itself from invading Russian forces.
Though Parmenov explicitly condemned cross-border shelling that targets civilians in the Belgorod region, Pepel claimed pro-war Telegram channels edited that part out of his interview and circulated it online.
The FSB’s statement, cited by yet another regional news outlet, Belpressa, claimed Parmenov is currently living in exile outside Russia, somewhere in the South Caucasus.
Russia’s Justice Ministry designated Parmenov a “foreign agent” in February 2025.
Parmenov founded Pepel in the fall of 2022, months after President Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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