34-year-old physicist Artem Khoroshilov was arrested at the end of 2023 on charges of hacking critical infrastructure facilities. Six months later, the FSB reported that the accused also transferred money for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Khoroshilov graduated from MIPT and before his arrest worked as a research associate at the Institute of General Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. As noted by «T-Invariant»*, he is an actively publishing scientist. In the MIPT characterization, he is described as an enthusiastic physicist. It is reported that he became a winner in the selection program of the most cited scientific works at MIPT.
By the time the case was transferred to court, the charge included an article on treason for transfers to Ukrainian funds, reported a «Mediazona»* correspondent from the courtroom. Artem Khoroshilov is likely the first Russian scientist facing a life sentence in a treason case.
In the indictment read by prosecutor Milana Digaeva, it is stated that in January and February 2022, including before the Russian invasion, Khoroshilov began transferring money from Sberbank and VTB accounts to the Ukrainian fund «Come Back Alive». This was considered as aiding the Armed Forces of Ukraine and treason. A total of five transfers amounting to 34,695 rubles are described in the case.
Then «for the purpose of conspiracy» Khoroshilov continued the transfers in cryptocurrency. According to the accusation, by December 2022 he converted more than 654,771 rubles into bitcoins, which he then transferred to the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and Ukrainian funds, including the same «Come Back Alive» and the Sergey Prytula Foundation.
Another episode of the accusation is dedicated to hacking critically important computer systems. According to the investigation, on May 14, 2022, the physicist received a program for DDoS attacks on «Russian Post» from Ukrainian agents, the attack itself occurred in August.
The last episode is the preparation of sabotage. The investigation claims that in May 2022, Khoroshilov photographed the railway near a defense enterprise in Noginsk to choose a place to install an explosive device. In August, he «expressed readiness to commit sabotage» in a messenger and purchased the necessary components for bomb assembly, «using the education received».
The indictment states that the sabotage was thwarted as early as January 25, 2023, when explosives were seized from the man's home, while Khoroshilov was only detained at the end of 2023.
In court, Khoroshilov's penalties from the «Lefortovo» detention center were also read: he drew a trident on the wall, used a phone card as a knife, organized unauthorized communication with other detainees.
* Recognized in Russia as a «foreign agent».