A Russian FSB officer who ran a ‘Kremlin-insider’ Telegram channel is sentenced to 11 years for extorting a tech company
Mikhail Polyakov, administrator of the Telegram channel Kremlyovskaya Prachka, has been sentenced to 11 years in a penal colony on extortion charges, according to a correspondent for the Telegram channel Ostorozhno, Novosti, reporting from the courtroom.
Russian FSB officer Mikhail Polyakov has been sentenced to 11 years in a penal colony for extorting 42.5 million rubles from the IT company LANIT, according to a Moscow Garrison Military Court. Polyakov, who ran a Kremlin-insider Telegram channel called Kremlyovskaya Prachka, demanded the money in exchange for not publishing negative information on Telegram channels.
He was found guilty of extorting money from LANIT while serving in the FSB's Moscow directorate, responsible for protecting the constitutional order and countering terrorism. The court also stripped Polyakov of his rank of retired colonel and fined him 800,000 rubles. Polyakov's Telegram channel, Kremlyovskaya Prachka, had over 260,000 subscribers at the time of his detention.
The case implicates several other Telegram channels, including Nezygar, VChK-OGPU, Banksta, and BRIEF.
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