Russian military blogger and contract soldier Yegor Guzenko, who uses the callsign ‘Thirteenth’, has been placed in pre-trial detention for two months on charges of inciting hatred or enmity, according to a statement on his Telegram channel. The ruling, which independent Russian media say has not been officially confirmed by law enforcement bodies, was announced on 10 July, two days after the channel first reported his arrest under Article 282 of the Criminal Code. The case file remains opaque: the region where proceedings are underway is unknown, and no court or prosecutor has issued a public comment.

Viewed from Moscow, the detention marks a sharp escalation in the state’s treatment of a figure who has combined frontline service with vocal criticism of the military command. Guzenko’s channel, which has nearly 230,000 subscribers, stated that the blogger had been helping Russian fighters and “always spoke his mind openly”. Independent Russian outlets note that the arrest came weeks after Guzenko posted a video directly accusing President Vladimir Putin of lying about the necessity of mobile internet and cellular network shutdowns, writing that “lies are coming from you and your subordinates with dashing consistency, and personally I have long had no trust in you”. Pro-Kremlin media have largely remained silent on the case, while Western correspondents in the region observe that the charges fit a pattern of using extremism legislation to silence even pro-war voices who deviate from the official line.

The sequence of events preceding the arrest, as reconstructed by Russian independent and diaspora media, points to a cycle of punishment and co-option. In spring 2025, shortly after his criticism of the internet restrictions, Guzenko’s channel reported that he was sent to a frontline assault unit despite a double leg fracture with displacement. He subsequently stopped communicating. In October 2024, he had been detained in Stavropol Krai on charges of using violence against a police officer after allegedly refusing to remove a mask; that case was suspended when he signed a contract with the Defence Ministry and was deployed to the war zone. Analysts in London note that the latest arrest suggests the authorities are unwilling to tolerate dissent even from contract soldiers who have previously been used as leverage to resolve criminal cases.

Russian law enforcement has in recent years targeted a series of ultranationalist and pro-war bloggers who publicly criticised the Kremlin’s handling of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The charge of inciting hatred carries a maximum sentence of six years in prison. Guzenko’s channel has appealed for funds to hire a lawyer, while the blogger himself remains in pre-trial detention. The investigation is ongoing, and no further procedural steps have been announced.