Kochegin Evgeniy Sergeevich

In Volgograd in April 2022, a criminal case was opened about "fakes" about the Russian army against former coordinator of the local Navalny headquarters Yevgeny Kochegin. The reason for the criminal prosecution was a post in his Telegram channel: the activist wrote that President Putin wants to capture Ukraine and establish a puppet government there. Earlier, in November 2021, a case was opened against Kochegin for evading military service, due to which the activist was forced to leave Russia. In December 2022, the Central District Court of Volgograd issued an in absentia arrest warrant for Kochegin and placed him on federal wanted list. On January 18, 2024, at six in the morning, a search was conducted at the home of 'Caucasian Knot' journalist Vyacheslav Yashenko. The search was conducted in connection with a criminal case against Kochegin, Yashchenko is a witness in the case. Yashchenko's laptop, computer processor, phone, flash drives, and storage devices were confiscated." The journalist noted that a search of his home was carried out without a court order, although police officers, according to him, behaved correctly." The security forces also tried to question Yashchenko, but he refused to give testimony. June 12, 2024, a search was conducted on two more Volgograd activists - Vladimir Telpuk and Ruslan Narushev. Telpuk's apartment was searched for about two hours in the presence of witnesses, but nothing was found or seized. Telpuk was not given a copy of the court's decision and the search protocol. Equipment was confiscated from Narushev. Telpuk and Narushev are also witnesses in the Kochegin case.