Russian junior sergeant gets 15 years in first known conviction for voluntary surrender to Ukrainian forces

A Russian military court in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, on the Far Eastern island of Sakhalin, has sentenced former soldier Roman Ivanishin to 15 years in prison. According to the business newspaper Kommersant, he was found guilty of surrendering to the enemy, attempting to surrender a second time, and desertion. The court also stripped him of his rank of junior sergeant.

During closing arguments, the prosecutor requested a 16-year sentence. Ivanishin’s defense team argued for an acquittal, maintaining that the charges had not been proven. Ivanishin pleaded not guilty.

A mining foreman from Sakhalin, Ivanishin was drafted during Russia’s mobilization campaign and served in the 39th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. He was captured on June 10, 2023, near the village of Stepne, outside Volnovakha. In a video circulated online, Ivanishin said he had been taken prisoner and voiced opposition to the war, calling on other Russian soldiers to abandon their units.

Ivanishin returned to Russia in January 2024 as part of a prisoner exchange, which saw 248 Russian troops swapped for captured Ukrainians. Upon his return, he was placed under investigation. The court in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk initially refused to take the case and referred it to Moscow, but it was eventually sent back to the Far East.

The trial began on March 17 and lasted around 15 hearings. The details of the prosecution’s case and the defense’s arguments were not disclosed.

According to Kommersant, Ivanishin’s case is the first known conviction in Russia for the voluntary surrender to Ukrainian forces. The corresponding offense was added to the Russian Criminal Code in 2022, shortly after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.