Zotova Valeriya Igorevna

In February 2022, 19-year-old Valeria Zotova from Yaroslavl began communicating in anti-war themed chats. There she met a man who introduced himself as an SBU employee and offered her money to set fire to the building of the district administration, where aid was being collected for the military. Zotova initially agreed, but then changed her mind and decided to stage an arson attempt. She shared her plans with her friend Karina, who was actually an embedded FSB agent. During the night of February 16-17, 2023, Zotova arrived at the administration building with a friend, where security forces detained her without even letting her out of the car. On February 18, Zotov was arrested on charges of attempted terrorism and sent to a pre-trial detention center. According to the lawyer, Valeria was acting under the influence of provocateurs, and law enforcement officers who corresponded with her under the guise of Ukrainians persuaded her to commit arson. The investigation did not even try to establish their identities. Simultaneously, an agent named 'Geran' was planted in her circle, who 'inspired' her to commit arson, found a car, paid for gasoline, and went with Lera to carry it out. However, their correspondence was not taken into account by the investigation, and Geran was never held responsible for incitement to arson. On June 28, 2023, the Southern District Military Court sentenced Valery Zotov to 6 years in a general regime colony. On November 8, 2023, the Appellate Military Court left the verdict in force.