Moscow Scientist Sentenced to 21 Years in Prison on treason Charges
Moscow, Russia – Physicist Artyom Khoroshilov, 34, has been sentenced to 21 years in a maximum-security prison by a Moscow region court after being convicted of treason and multiple related charges, Russian media reported Thursday. The verdict follows accusations that Khoroshilov engaged in activities detrimental to Russian national security, including alleged cyberattacks and providing support to Ukraine‘s military.
Khoroshilov was arrested in December 2023 and accused of carrying out distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on critical infrastructure, funneling funds to the Ukrainian armed forces, and collecting intelligence on the Russian army. While he admitted to some of the charges, he reportedly denied direct involvement in a DDoS attack targeting Russian Post servers in August 2022, according to Mediazona, an exiled news outlet.
The court found Khoroshilov guilty of treason, attacks on critical infrastructure, possession of explosives, and intent to commit acts of sabotage. Prosecutors had initially sought a 25-year sentence.The trial was largely held behind closed doors, a common practice in Russian cases involving national security concerns.
Khoroshilov, a graduate of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), previously worked as a researcher at the Institute of General Physics under the Russian Academy of Sciences. His case is part of a broader trend of increased prosecutions under Russia’s treason and espionage laws since the start of the full-scale invasion of ukraine.
Data from the Kirill Parubets Analytical center indicates a significant rise in such convictions.Russian courts issued 224 treason or espionage-related verdicts in the first half of 2025 alone – a record for modern Russian history, averaging nearly two convictions per working day. This represents a significant increase from the 167 convictions in 2023 and 143 in the first half of 2024.
in a final statement delivered last week, Khoroshilov expressed personal distress over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, noting that many of his relatives reside there.
