July 18, 2025, 8:51 p.m.

Crimean chess player Sergey Karyakin convicted of separatism and high treason

(Photo: Associated Press)

A Ukrainian court sentenced chess player Serhiy Karyakin to nine years in prison in absentia.

This was reported by the Security Service of Ukraine.

"He openly called on Russians and residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to help the Russian military, in particular the so-called "stormtroopers". Using his own media, he created a telegram channel through which he raised funds for the needs of the Russian army," the statement said.

Karyakin himself commented on the verdict for the Russian agency RIA Novosti Crimea, calling the process "an absurd theater of the Kyiv regime" and considering the decision "politically motivated."

Back in 2009, the chess player changed his sports citizenship to Russian, and since 2014 he has publicly called for an aggressive war, justified and recognized the Russian armed aggression against Ukraine as legal.

We also wrote about the illegal activities of two residents of the temporarily occupied Kherson region.

The collaborator performed "functions" on the territory of five captured villages in the district. He organized the activities of the occupation pseudo-authorities "subordinate" to him, issued illegal "administrative documents". He also issued Russian passports. He kept records of Ukrainians liable for military service.

Another "assistant" of the aggressor country, a resident of Kherson district, operated in the temporarily occupied village of Brylivka and participated in the illegal presidential elections in Russia.

The collaborator from Kakhovka turned into a real hunter for pro-Ukrainian residents in Kherson region. He kidnaps, beats and hands people over to the occupiers. Residents of Kakhovka, including the victims, told journalists that Chetvergov personally detains people, takes them to his own torture chamber, where he beats them unconscious and brutally abuses them. He hands some of them over to the Russian military. Some of the abductees are still in captivity.

Олександра Горст

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