By RFE/RL's Russian Service

A military court in Russia on April 10 sentenced two men to nine years in prison each in separate cases for their plans to join the Freedom of Russia legion fighting with Ukraine against Russian forces. Vsevolod Kulikov, 19, from the western city of Lipetsk, was convicted of attempted arson on a military airport and attempted high treason. Vyacheslav Kuznetsov, from Tatarstan, was found guilty of attempted high treason. Almost 100 investigations on treason charges were launched in Russia in 2023 -- the highest number in post-Soviet Russia.