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Azov Brigade Soldier Andrii Sopuliak Gets 19-Year Sentence in Russia on Fabricated Charges
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![Photo of Dariia Mykhailenko]( "Photo of Dariia Mykhailenko")
The Southern District Court in Rostov-on-Don has sentenced Ukrainian serviceman and Azov brigade member Andrii Sopuliak to 19 years in a high-security prison on fabricated charges of “participation in a terrorist organization” and “training for the purpose of carrying out terrorist activities.”
According to Mediazona on August 14, citing the court’s press service, Sopuliak, a 30-year-old native of Ivano-Frankivsk region, signed a contract with the National Guard of Ukraine in 2016 and joined the Azov Brigade. Serving as an aerial reconnaissance operator, he was captured by Russian forces in Mariupol on May 20, 2022.
He was initially held in a former penal colony in Olenivka, on the temporarily occupied territory of Donetsk region, until September 2022, when he was transferred to Pre-Trial Detention Center No. 2 in Taganrog, Rostov region.
Only on March 11, 2025—nearly three years after his capture—did Russian authorities formally register his detention under a criminal case. He was placed in a temporary detention facility, later moved to Pre-Trial Detention Center No. 1 in Rostov-on-Don. His legal status prior to this remains unclear. The case was submitted to court in April.
During a hearing on July 28, Sopuliak stated that he had never participated in “punitive operations” against residents of the so-called “DPR ” and “LPR ,” never intimidated civilians, and had not undergone “terrorist training,” explaining that he had only completed a standard military basic training course. He suggested discrepancies between his testimony in court and during the investigation were due to the investigator inaccurately recording his statements, prompting the judge to summon the FSB investigator.
Two days later, Sopuliak was transferred to Taganrog. At the next hearing on August 7, the court announced its verdict, which he heard via video link from the Taganrog pre-trial detention center. The FSB investigator failed to appear in court, citing a “long-term assignment.”
This is not the first time Russia has brought “terrorism” charges against an Azov Brigade soldier. On August 8, a military court in Rostov sentenced Ukrainian prisoner of war Vladyslav Shpak to 21 years in a strict-regime colony, Mediazona reported.
Shpak, a native of Melitopol, was convicted under two articles of the Russian Criminal Code—participation in a terrorist group (Article 205.4, part 2) and receiving training for terrorist activity (Article 205.3).
According to the prosecution, in June 2020, then 20-year-old Shpak signed a contract with the Ukrainian National Guard and joined the Azov Brigade “for financial and ideological reasons,” which Russian authorities classified as participation in a terrorist organization. Between April and June 2021, he was accused of undergoing military training, which was labeled as preparation for terrorism.
Earlier, Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General named key suspects in the mass killing of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Olenivka. In the early hours of July 29, 2022, a powerful explosion tore through the former Volnovakha Penal Colony No. 120 in Russian-occupied Olenivka, killing at least 50 Ukrainian POWs and injuring about 150 others.
