A Russian military court sentenced 68-year-old surveyor Igor Odintsov to six years in a strict-regime penal colony on September 30. Prosecutors accused him of publicly justifying terrorism over online messages that investigators said endorsed groups and attacks directed against the Russian authorities.

Radio Svoboda reported the case on Friday, October 16. Odintsov, an outspoken opponent of Russia’s war against Ukraine, had been barred from leaving the country while awaiting the verdict in his criminal case.

On September 17, he swam across the Neman River from Sovetsk in Russia’s Kaliningrad region to Lithuania, intending to request political asylum. Lithuanian border guards detained and questioned him for about five hours, provided dry clothes and shoes, and then returned him to the Russian side. Russian authorities arrested him on September 21.

Lithuania’s interior minister initially acknowledged that Odintsov had sought asylum but later said the request was unclear and that he declined to complete an application. Human rights advocates and legal experts challenged that account, arguing that an oral expression of fear of return is enough to initiate the protection process and that Lithuania’s Migration Department, rather than border officials, should assess the claim.