Russia on Thursday handed a lengthy prison term to a Siberian man accused of treason and terrorism over plans to join Russian units fighting for Ukraine.
It is the latest arrest of Russian citizens accused of wanting to fight with pro-Ukrainian armed groups that have carried out several deadly incursions into Russia.
The suspect "planned to take part in hostilities on the side of the Ukrainian armed forces," the Russian state agency TASS reported, citing the FSB.
Law enforcement officers detained a 26-year-old guy in the center of the Kemerovo region when he was heading to Ukraine, the report says.
“He was motivated by the fact that from the moment the operation in Ukraine began, he did not support the policies of the Russian leadership,” the FSB said in a statement.
TASS reported that he posted online the symbols of the Russian Freedom Legion, one of the anti-Kremlin Russian units fighting for Kyiv.
Moscow banned it as a terrorist organization.
Russia regularly persecutes people for collaborating with Ukraine.
In the Russian-occupied Zaporozhye region of southern Ukraine, authorities installed by Moscow on Thursday sentenced a man to 11 years in prison for spying for Ukraine.
TASS reported that he "collected and transmitted information about the movements and directions of Russian troops" and "collected information about industrial and energy infrastructure" in the Zaporozhye region.