Nikita Uvarov, a 16-year-old from Kansk, Russia, was accused of trying to carry out terrorist acts and, among other things, planned to damage the Russian Federal Security Service building in a Minecraft game. Two of his friends, who were arrested along with him and assisted in the investigation, were given a suspended sentence. Before the sentence, the boy said: “I’m not a terrorist, I did not plan to blow anyone up.”
The military district court in eastern Russia announced the verdict for the Kansk youths in the case of the explosion of the FSB building (Russia’s Federal Security Service) in a minecraft game. Nikita Uvarov, 16, received five years in prison while Dennis Mikhailenko and Bogdan Andreev were acquitted.
The affair began in the summer of 2020, when three ninth-graders were arrested after handing out leaflets in support of a graduate student, mathematician Azat Miftkov, who was arrested and charged with anarchism. During the interrogation of the boys, the investigators discovered that they had built an “FSB building” in the video game Minecraft and planned to “blow it up”. Prosecutors also found that the boys were engaged in chemical experiments in the backyard, with their parents’ knowledge, including the preparation of a smelter (potassium nitrate) smoke device and an improvised Molotov cocktail.
The prosecution sought a sentence of 9 years in prison for Uvarov, and Mikhailenko and Andreev – about 6 and a half years in prison for training to carry out terrorist acts and the production of explosives. Yes, it was proposed to impose a fine on all three – 50,000 rubles each (about NIS 2,100).
Uvarov was found guilty of “training to carry out terrorist acts” and sentenced to 5 years in prison and a fine of 30,000 rubles. He was taken into custody in the courtroom. Mikhailenko and Andreev, who assisted in the investigation, received three and four years probation. The verdict is expected to be appealed.
In his last speech in court before sentencing, Uvarov said: “I did not intend to blow anyone up.” He claimed that after his arrest pressure was exerted on his mother, who was not in her possession to pay a lawyer, nor was he allowed to call or meet with her.
“I never taught my friends bad things, I was not their leader, we were equal and just friends. I have nothing to be ashamed of, I am not a terrorist,” Uvarov said.
Minecraft is the most popular computer game in the world, selling more than 200 million copies, in which users can create their own landscapes, buildings and objects.