Zheleznov Roman Aleksandrovich

On March 31, 2022, the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation opened a criminal case on charges of obstructing the journalistic activities of propagandist Vladimir Solovyov. Later, the charges were reclassified as an attempt to physically eliminate Solovyov because of his political views. After that, several people were detained at various times in Moscow and the Moscow region on charges of attempting to assassinate the propagandist. On April 12, 2022, 28-year-old Andrei Volkov, a resident of the Kostroma region, was detained in Pushkin, near Moscow. According to the investigation, on March 24, Volkov made an unsuccessful attempt to set a car on fire. On April 5, Volkov and an acquaintance doused a car with gasoline, on which “symbols of support for the special operation of the Russian Armed Forces” were painted, and set it on fire. The car was completely burned down. During a search of Volkov's home, literature deemed to be “Nazi propaganda” — Mein Kampf and Restrukt — was found and confiscated. He was charged with two counts of destruction of property by arson and hooliganism. On April 14, the Pushkin City Court of the Moscow Region remanded Volkov into custody. On April 25, the FSB announced the arrest of five members of the National Socialism/White Power group: Vladimir Belyakov, Vasily Strizhakov, Andrei Pronsky, Vladimir Stepanov, and Maxim Druzhinin. Pronsky later said that during his detention, he was tortured with water and his teeth were filed down with a file. According to law enforcement officials, they wanted to blow up Solovyov's car on behalf of the Ukrainian Security Service. The next day, all six were charged with attempted murder of a person in the performance of their official duties, committed in a manner dangerous to the public by a group of persons acting in concert. The men were sent to a pre-trial detention center: on April 26, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow arrested Maxim Druzhinin and Vasily Strizhakov at the request of the investigation, and on April 27, Andrei Pronsky and Vladimir Stepanov. On June 3, security forces detained 29-year-old Timofey Mokiy in the city of Lyubertsy in the Moscow region. According to the investigation, he was involved in the arson attacks on the police department in the Kosino-Ukhtomsky district of Moscow and three military registration and enlistment offices in Shchelkovo, Balashikha, and the village of Pronik in the Ryazan region. On the night of April 24-25, an unknown man threw two bottles containing a flammable mixture at the Kosino-Ukhtomsky district police station in Moscow, causing the asphalt in front of the checkpoint to catch fire. It is reported that the fire was quickly extinguished. During an inspection of the scene, law enforcement officers found a slogan against military operations in Ukraine. On the evening of May 9, an unknown person threw a bottle containing a flammable mixture through the window of the military commissariat on Evstafieva Street (this military commissariat serves two cities near Moscow - Reutov and Balashikha). A security guard quickly extinguished the one-square-meter fire in the corridor with a fire extinguisher. Another arson attack on a military registration and enlistment office occurred on May 15 in the village of Pronsk near Ryazan. First, an unknown person tried to set fire to the door, and then to the window frame, but the fire did not spread. On May 18, a fire broke out in one of the rooms of the military commissariat building in Shchelkovo, near Moscow. An unknown person threw two bottles containing a flammable mixture into the Shchelkovo military commissariat building. As a result of the arson, two rooms in the building were damaged, including the commissariat's archive. Timofey Mokiy was charged with four counts of destruction of property by arson. On June 4, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow chose a preventive measure in the form of arrest. On June 3, in the Tula region, security forces detained Dinis Abrarov, a resident of the Samara region, on suspicion of attempting to set fire to the military commissariat. According to the investigation, at around 4 a.m. on May 31, Abrarov came to the military registration and enlistment office building on Shcherbina Street in Yasnogorsk and broke the window of one of the employees' offices with an axe, which he left there. He then attempted to set fire to the building, but the military registration and enlistment office employees extinguished the fire before the fire brigade arrived. On June 5, the Soviet District Court of Tula remanded Dinis into custody. A criminal case was opened against Abrarov under the article on destruction of property by arson. On October 26, the charge was reclassified as a terrorist act committed by a group of individuals. All these criminal cases were combined into one proceeding. A total of 16 criminal cases were combined during the preliminary investigation. Over the course of the year, the charges were significantly expanded: the defendants were charged not only with preparing to murder Solovyov and several arson attacks on military registration offices and vehicles with pro-war symbols, but also with participating in the terrorist organization NS/WP. On October 26, 2022, Mokiy was also charged with possession of drugs without intent to sell. On November 8, Strizhakov and Volkov were charged with illegal possession and manufacture of weapons and explosives, as well as participation in a terrorist community. In early December, the same charges were brought against Stepanov, Belyakov, Druzhinin, and Mokiy. On December 5, 2022, Volkov was charged with participation in a terrorist community and two counts of destruction of property by arson. The charge of hooliganism was dropped. The investigation considers 30-year-old Andrei Pronsky to be the leader of the cell. On December 19, he was charged with 11 criminal offenses: illegal storage and manufacture of weapons and explosives, incitement to extremism and terrorism, incitement to hatred or enmity committed by a group of persons with the use of violence or the threat of its use, and organization of a terrorist community. According to the investigation, in October 2021, Andrei Pronsky created a cell of the neo-Nazi group “NS/WP,” which is banned in Russia, and publicly announced this in order to attract supporters. He also created a themed channel on a messaging app. He involved Timofey Mokiy, Vladimir Belyakov, Vladimir Stepanov, Maxim Druzhinin, Andrei Volkov, Vasily Strizhakov, and others in the group's activities. To carry out their plans, the defendants acquired everything necessary for the manufacture of ammunition, the modification of firearms, and the manufacture of explosive devices. And from December 2021 to April 2022, they set fire to four cars, a house, and a military commissariat in Moscow, the Moscow Region, and the Tver Region. Furthermore, no later than April 4, 2022, representatives of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine approached Pronsky with an offer to kill journalist Vladimir Solovyov for a reward. To this end, the group members decided to install a homemade explosive device on the victim's car. However, the crime was not carried out because it was prevented by law enforcement officers. In early December 2023, the case was sent to the 2nd Western District Military Court for consideration. At the same time, Vasily Stroganov's case was separated into a separate proceeding due to his diagnosed mental illness—the young man suffers from delusional schizophrenia-like disorder, as well as stimulant dependence syndrome. Strizhakov claims that he is acquainted with only a few of the defendants, with whom he consumed alcohol and drugs. The defense stated that after his arrest, law enforcement officers independently added documents and subscriptions to channels with radical opposition themes to Strizhakov's phone. Upon examining the materials, the court determined the dates on which these files were created—they were added after the day of the seizure. On November 11, 2023, the 2nd Western District Military Court of Moscow found Vasily Strizhakov guilty and sentenced him to compulsory psychiatric treatment. In November 2023, another person involved in the case became known: Ukrainian Artem Deriglazov, who is serving a life sentence in a colony in Ukraine for the murder of a police officer. According to the investigation, Deriglazov was allegedly promised that he would be released from the colony if Solovyov was killed. The money was also to be paid to the organizers of the assassination attempt through the Ukrainian activist. During the court hearing, Maxim Druzhinin testified that he had been promised 1 million rubles through Andrei Pronsky: 400,000 in advance and 600,000 rubles after the assassination attempt. However, Druzhinin did not manage to receive the money because he was detained. On January 22, 2024, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow granted the investigation's request to remand Artem Deriglazov in custody in absentia. He was charged in absentia with organizing the murder and was placed on an international wanted list. Another figure in the case was neo-Nazi Roman “Zukhel” Zheleznov. He was charged with inciting terrorism and extremism, participating in a terrorist organization, and inciting hatred. The Investigative Committee believes him to be involved in the revival of the neo-Nazi group NS/WP—he allegedly incited members of the community in Russia to set fire to military registration offices and cars with “Z” stickers and to prepare an assassination attempt on Vladimir Solovyov. Zheleznov fled from prosecution and is now wanted internationally. The Basmanny District Court of Moscow granted the investigation's request and arrested Zheleznov in absentia for two months from the moment of his extradition to the Russian Federation or from the moment of his detention on Russian territory. Earlier, in 2018, Zheleznov was sentenced in absentia to four years in a strict regime colony for mercenary activities. The case was opened in 2014 after, according to the investigation, Zheleznov arrived in Ukraine and began participating in hostilities on the side of Azov. He has also been convicted twice in Russia for hooliganism and theft. In 2009, he was an activist for Maxim Martsinkevich's Restrukt, but they parted ways on ideological grounds. On December 19, 2025, the 2nd Western District Military Court found all the defendants guilty and imposed the following sentences: Andrei Pronsky - life imprisonment with the first 10 years to be served in prison and the remainder in a special regime colony, with a fine of 1 million rubles and other restrictions; Vladimir Belyakov - 27 years' imprisonment, with the first 8 years to be served in prison and the remainder in a strict regime colony, with a fine of 900,000 rubles and restriction of liberty; Vladimir Stepanov - 26 years in prison, with the first 8 years to be served in prison and the remainder in a strict regime colony, with a fine of 800,000 rubles and restriction of liberty; Timofey Mokiy - 28 years imprisonment, with the first 9 years to be served in prison and the remainder in a strict regime colony, with a fine of 900,000 rubles and restriction of liberty; Maxim Druzhinin - 25 years' imprisonment, with the first 8 years to be served in prison and the remainder in a strict regime colony, with a fine of 700,000 rubles and restriction of liberty; Andrey Volkov - 18 years in prison, with the first 8 years to be served in prison and the remainder in a strict regime colony, with a fine of 300,000 rubles; Denis Abrarov - 12 years' imprisonment, with the first 6 years to be served in prison and the remainder in a strict regime colony. The court also upheld the civil claims of the victims in full.