Resistance that went underground: how does the occupation punish dissenters?

Authors: Anna Prokopchuk, Iryna Dumych, Daryna Dovhopiata

The peninsula under occupation resembles an organism infected with a virus. Every attempt to erase Ukrainian identity, destroy cultural heritage, symbols of statehood, and even faith is like an infection spreading through the body. However, the resistance is trying to stop this. The resistance has moved from open rallies and peaceful actions to underground forms: leaflets, closed chats, donations, yellow-blue paint, emojis, comments and posts, loud words and quiet disagreement. The people of Crimea are still resisting, even when the repression is exhausting and traumatic. It is even manifested in the choice to live there – simply because it is people’s home and land. Temporarily occupied though.  

After years of occupation, repression in Crimea and other occupied territories has turned into a systemic policy of control – directed not only against open resistance, but also against Ukrainian identity, civic position, and any manifestations of disagreement with the policies of the occupation authorities. In addition to the action, the person’s right to take a position or even to silently disagree is criminalized.  

The legal basis for the prosecutions is politically motivated criminal cases under articles on “treason”, “terrorism”, “extremism”, as well as administrative proceedings for “discrediting the russian army”, which may be criminalized in the event of repeated proceedings. Another practice is the arbitrary and expansive interpretation of legislation, which allows law enforcement agencies to effectively punish people for any actions that may be viewed by the occupying authorities as a threat to the existence of the regime. In addition, there are certain practices of control that reinforce this repressive system: denunciations, pro-russian Telegram channels, demonstrative detentions, public “apology” videos, and demonstrative punishment as a tool to intimidate local residents.  

Once, ex-political prisoner, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Turkey Nariman Dzhelial said: “Resistance is a very effective vaccination against russian occupation. If the residents of Crimea do not even openly resist, they continue their silent protest and use every opportunity to confirm their national identity, that they are citizens of Ukraine. And this is what is worth fighting for!” 

On the Day of Resistance to the Occupation of Crimea, we would like to illustrate cases of persecution of people for expressing dissent and preserving their identity under occupation. These stories show both the scale of repression, and that resistance has not disappeared – it has changed forms, but continues despite constant pressure and risks.  

In this article, we also analyse how the intensity and nature of persecution changed over time, comparing the situation after the sharp increase in repression in 2022 with how the system of pressure functions today. 

Imprisonment for donating to the Armed Forces of Ukraine 

Under occupation, even a small money transfer to support the Ukrainian army is considered a criminal offense. Actions that are a manifestation of civil solidarity outside the occupied territory become grounds for criminal prosecution and long prison terms — 7, 12, or even 17 years.  

Below are cases as examples of how the system of such persecution works. 

Liudmyla Kolesnikova  

Liudmyla had lived in Ireland since 2022, but was forced to return to the occupied peninsula in June 2024 due to the death of her mother. Russian security forces detained the woman right in the cemetery. 

Subsequently, a criminal case was opened against Liudmyla under Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the russian federation (CCRF)(treason). She was sentenced to 17 years in prison for purchasing NFT stamps depicting a “russian warship,” the proceeds from the sale of which were used to support Ukraine.  

Iryna Sukhovii  

65-y.o. resident of Melitopol Iryna Sukhovii is being held in the Simferopol pre-trial detention centre for transferring RUB 1,400 (about UAH 800) for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. 

Despite serious chronic illnesses, the occupation court of the Zaporizhzhia region sentenced her to 12.5 years in prison for allegedly committing treason. 

Appaz Kurtamet  

Appaz returned to occupied Novooleksiivka in order to apply for documents for his own house so that the russians would not take it away. Having dealt with the papers issue, the man decided to meet up with his friends before leaving. After that, contact with him was lost. 

After three months of complete obscurity, the family learned that the young man was being held in the Simferopol pre-trial detention centre: “There they persuaded him to cooperate and tried to impose russian citizenship, saying that under such conditions he would be released. The security forces told him: ‘You choose: freedom or 10-15 years in prison. And we will find something to detain you for. We will just check your phone.’ However, my son refused,” the political prisoner’s mother said.

Appaz was later sentenced to 7 years in prison for allegedly financing a Ukrainian volunteer battalion. The charges against Appaz were based on evidence of a transfer of UAH 500 to an acquaintance who served in the “Crimea” volunteer battalion. 

Punishment for manifestations of identity 

Any manifestations of Ukrainian identity under occupation become a pretext for persecution. People are punished for songs, symbols, or small acts of civic stance, using administrative arrests, fines, and long-term imprisonment. 

Bohdan Ziza 

On May 16, 2022, in occupied Yevpatoria, Crimean artist and civic activist Bohdan Ziza held a protest action, dousing the doors of the city administration with yellow and blue paint and throwing a “Molotov cocktail” into the building.  

The activist was detained on the same day, and his whereabouts were unknown until May 18. In June 2023, the occupation authorities sentenced Ziza to 15 years in prison.  

As of December 2025, data appeared about the critical deterioration of the health of a political prisoner in the russian colony “Vladimir Central”. Due to serious dental problems and the lack of proper medical care, any visit to the medical unit by Bohdan effectively turned into a form of torture. 

Andrii Bilozerov 

In September 2022, russian language teacher Andrii Bilozerov was fired from the local technical school in the city of Bilohirsk. The reason was a video in which he was listening to Taras Borovok’s song “Bayraktar” in the school auditorium.  

Pro-russian resources began spreading information that the teacher did not hide his pro-Ukrainian stance and was waiting for the de-occupation of Crimea, and his own students reported him. Then, in September, Belozerov was sentenced to 13 days in prison under an article about demonstrating prohibited symbols. 

On October 28, 2022, he was again sent to administrative arrest for 14 days for publishing the song “Chervona Kalyna” (“Red Viburnum”) on the social network “VKontakte”. During the detention, the teacher was beaten. In December 2022, the Simferopol occupation court qualifies the case as criminal, sending Bilozerov under house arrest for two months under the article on repeated “discrediting” of the occupation army (Part 1 of Art. 280.3 of the CCRF).  

In March 2023, Andrii Bilozerov was accused of repeatedly “discrediting” the occupation army. He was fined RUB 100,000 and banned from publishing anything for two years. 

Arrests and fines for 4 people for singing “Chervona Kalyna” at a wedding 

In September 2022, the occupation “Bakhchysarai District Court” sentenced participants in a Crimean Tatar wedding at the Arpat restaurant for playing the song “Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow.” DJ Akhtem Hemedzhi, who played the track, was accused of discrediting the occupation forces through words about the liberation of Ukrainians and promoting OUN (Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists) symbols, which the russian federation considers prohibited. “Judge” Vasyl Koshelev fined him RUB 30,000 and sentenced him to 10 days in prison. The organizer of the event, Elvira Abdullaieva, was punished by the “judge”-collaborator Ihor Yanin under similar articles with a fine of RUB 30,000 and 5 days of administrative arrest. 

Two more guests were later arrested and fined. Liliia Abdullaieva was sent under arrest by the illegal group for 10 days, and Lilia Saifulaieva was fined RUB 50,000. Both women were charged with the same charges as the two previous wedding participants: public actions to discredit the russian army (Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the russian federation (CAORF)) and propaganda of the ideology of an organization whose activities are prohibited in russia (Article 20.3 of the CAORF). 

Anti-war actions 

Any actions that could be interpreted as an anti-war stance or disloyalty to russia’s military presence become grounds for criminal prosecution. Collecting and transmitting information about troop movements, publicly speaking out against the war, or being suspected of aiding the Ukrainian side are classified as “espionage,” “extremism,” or other serious crimes. 

The cases below illustrate exactly how this practice of persecution works in temporarily occupied territories.

Maksym Makhno and Serhii Tkachenko 

According to the FSB of the russian federation, in August 2022, 44-y.o. Ukrainian Maksym Makhno established contact with the Security Service of Ukraine and transmitted data about the occupation troops in Kakhovka, Kherson region, via messenger. According to the occupiers, he constantly monitored the russians, knowing the number of personnel and types of weapons. In October 2022, he allegedly involved 39-y.o. Serhii Tkachenko in collecting and transmitting information.  

The circumstances of their detention are unknown, but in October 2024 the case was referred to the Rostov Regional Court. In November 2024, both men were sentenced to 12 years in prison on charges of espionage: Makhno will serve his term in a strict regime colony, and Tkachenko will serve his term in a special-regime colony.  

Oleksandr Sokolov and Viktor Soldatko  

From October 2022 to February 2023, 51-y.o. resident of Luhansk region, Oleksandr Sokolov, according to the occupiers, collected information about the movements of russian troops and the routes of military equipment, transmitting data via messengers. In addition, in March 2023, he allegedly posted online calls for the massacre of collaborators.  

In September 2024, the so-called Supreme Court of the “LPR” sentenced him to 16 years in a strict regime colony for espionage and extremism, also banning him from administering websites. In a video shared by the russians, Sokolov allegedly admitted to transferring data to Telegram channels and stated that he was against the “special operation.” Together with him, 28-y.o. Viktor Soldatko was sentenced to 13 years in prison on similar charges of espionage via Telegram. 

Mother and daughter sentenced to 12 years in prison for “treason” 

In September 2023, a resident of Sevastopol allegedly took photographs of facilities that her 24-y.o. daughter passed to Ukrainian intelligence representatives for a reward.  

Both women were arrested on October 3, 2024, initially charged with “transmitting data on a confidential basis.” However, in June 2025, the case was reclassified as “treason.” In August 2025, the occupation city court of Sevastopol sentenced a 42-y.o. mother and her daughter to 12 years in prison each with restrictions on movement after release. 

10.5 and 14 years in prison for “espionage” of father and daughter in the Kherson region 

A case of “espionage” was fabricated against a family from Henichesk: Oleksii Demianenko and his daughter Anzhelika. According to the Prosecutor General’s Office of the russian federation, the father collected data on the deployment of russian equipment and passed it on to his daughter, who then informed Ukrainian intelligence.  

After the arrest, Oleksii was held in the basement of the cultural centre in the village of Odradivka, where he was interrogated by FSB officers, and Anzhelika was placed in a pre-trial detention centre in the village of Chonhar. The Kherson region occupation court sentenced Oleksii Demianenko to 14 years in prison, and his daughter to 10 years and 5 months in prison. 

The rise of politically motivated criminal prosecutions in Crimea: a comparison of 2022 and 2025 

A comparison of CrimeaSOS data for 2022 and 2025 demonstrates a clear trend towards increased criminal prosecution of residents of occupied Crimea. While in 2022 the repressive policy was only gaining momentum after the start of the full-scale invasion of the russian federation, it acquired a systemic and massive character in 2025. 

In 2022, at least 54 victims of politically motivated persecution were recorded and convicted. Of these, 53 people were sentenced to imprisonment for a total term of over 637 years. At the same time, new criminal instruments of repression were just beginning to be applied: at least three criminal cases were opened under articles about the so-called “fakes about the russian Armed Forces” and “discrediting the russian army.” Thus, criminal prosecution in 2022 remained selective and was often combined with administrative pressure (in particular, massive fines for “discrediting the russian army”).

As of 2025, the situation had deteriorated significantly. Criminal prosecutions had become one of the key tools for controlling the population and suppressing any manifestations of disloyalty to the occupation authorities. In just one year, first-instance courts have handed down illegal and questionable sentences to at least 70 people, which already exceeds the figures for 2022. At the same time, the nature of the charges has also changed: if previously cases related to “discrediting the army” dominated, in 2025 the most common were serious articles – ” treason”, “espionage”, and “extremism”, which provide for up to 20 years of imprisonment. 

A separate trend is the criminalization of any manifestations of support for Ukraine. In 2025, even comments on social networks, in particular regarding the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ strikes on russian military facilities, were classified as “calls to terrorism” or “extremism.” Accusations are increasingly based on so-called linguistic examinations which interpret pro-Ukrainian statements as criminal acts. Thus, virtually any public or private position that contradicts official russian propaganda can become grounds for criminal prosecution. 

In addition to quantitative growth, the punitive nature of the judicial system also increased in 2025. Systematic violations of the right to a fair trial are being recorded, and appeals courts almost never change sentences, effectively legitimizing politically motivated decisions. Increasingly, higher courts are using review procedures to increase penalties. This indicates the coordinated work of the occupation investigation, the “prosecutor’s office” and the “courts” within the framework of a single repressive policy. 

Thus, compared to 2022, 2025 saw not only an increase in the number of politically motivated criminal cases, but also an escalation in the severity of the charges and the severity of the sentences. Criminal prosecution has become a systemic tool for suppressing pro-Ukrainian positions and any forms of dissent on the peninsula. 

And at the same time, even in these conditions, despite fear and threat, despite risks and exhaustion from years of occupation, despite total control and repression – someone tells their children Ukrainian fairy tales before bedtime, someone mentally sings a Ukrainian song on the way to work, someone goes out into the steppe and compares the landscape with the Ukrainian flag and quietly dreams of freedom, someone writes a letter of support to a political prisoner, someone celebrates according to Ukrainian time, and someone responds to the news in a whisper: “Glory to the Heroes.”  

As Yurii Matsievskyi, a professor at the Ostroh Academy and a researcher of organized resistance groups in the TOT (temporarily occupied territories), notes in an interview for NV: “Civil resistance has changed its form. While it initially manifested itself in open protests in 2022, it went underground in the summer of that year. The russians tightened control and repression, and many activists were captured. From individual interviews, we know that many underground members of resistance have died. The emphasis is now on safer forms: agitation through leaflets, coordination in closed chat rooms, and most importantly, gathering intelligence information. This once again confirms for the whole world: Ukrainians have not and will not come to terms with the russian occupation. Therefore, resistance will remain a symbol of Ukraine’s struggle, even if hostilities at the front are frozen.” 

That is why the collected testimonies speak not only about the scale of persecution, but also about the inability of the repressive system to overcome resistance. Loud or quiet, bright or invisible, the resistance is still alive. And the very fact of its existence remains the most consistent denial of the occupation.