A record number of Russians were convicted in the first half of 2025 under the article on military 'fakes'. In the first six months of the current year, courts sentenced 45 individuals, which is 2.5 times more than in 2023. Last year, 67 Russians were sentenced. In 2025, for the first time in years of war, it became known about a case where a court sentenced a serviceman under this article for 'defeatist talks'.
In April, warrant officer Seferbeg Gadzhiev was found guilty under the second part of the article on the dissemination of military 'fakes'—using his official position—for saying that the Armed Forces of Ukraine 'fight more successfully' than the Russian army, calling his statements 'defeatist talks', writes the project 'Okno'. This aggravates the degree of guilt and, accordingly, the measure of punishment. It is under the second part of the article on military 'fakes' that the number of convicts in the Russian Federation is growing exponentially: compared to 2022—11 times, compared to 2023—twice.
At the same time, according to relatives, he 'was simply telling the soldiers about the real situation in the DPR', for which he received 5.5 years in a penal colony.
As established by the court of first instance, Seferbeg Gadzhiev held defeatist talks with colleagues on September 7 and 11 of last year. At that time, he was the head of the platoon shift of the military garrison commandant's office and led the guard protecting the warehouse of one of the units stationed in Rostov-on-Don. 'Wishing to frighten the personnel under his command from the guard, he decided to mislead them about the fulfillment of the SVO tasks', the verdict states.
In July 2025, the court replaced the punishment and imposed a fine of 2.5 million rubles on Gadzhiev, after which he went to war again. The judge stated that he took into account the presence of a minor child, but the warrant officer's family is sure that there is a shortage of soldiers in the army. According to the relatives of the military, he was forced to go to the front, being informed that under his article the punishment could be increased to 10 years.