Russia jails man for 14 years for taking pictures of graves

A Russian man has been sentenced to 14 years in a maximum-security prison after being convicted of high treason for photographing and filming the graves of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine.

Nikolai Shcherbakov, 48, from Yaroslavl, about 173 miles northeast of Moscow, was convicted last month, according to independent Russian news outlet Mediazona.

Russian authorities alleged that Shcherbakov had repeatedly visited a memorial cemetery for nearly two years and secretly photographed and recorded the burial sites of military personnel. Officials claimed he then sent the material to representatives of Ukrainian intelligence services.

The court said on its website: “The court established that since October 2024, defendant Nikolai Shcherbakov had systematically visited a memorial cemetery, where he secretly photographed and recorded video of the burial sites of military personnel. The Yaroslavl resident sent the collected information via a messenger service to representatives of the Ukrainian intelligence services.”

Footage released by a regional Russian court suggested that the investigation into Shcherbakov began late last year before the case was formally sent to trial in July. It remains unclear where he will serve his sentence.

The case follows several other arrests in Russia involving people accused of photographing or filming military graves. On June 17, a woman was detained in Sverdlovsk Oblast for allegedly taking photographs of Russian military graves, reportedly prompting the Federal Security Service to increase surveillance around cemeteries in the region.

A week later, on June 24, another woman was jailed in Yekaterinburg over a similar case. In late June, the FSB also opened a high treason case against three people arrested in Tomsk Oblast in western Siberia for allegedly filming military graves.

Authorities accused them of passing information to Ukraine, including the identities of Russian servicemen who had died on the front line. The cases come amid Russia’s continuing war in Ukraine and heightened security concerns surrounding the disclosure of information about military personnel and casualties.