Russian prosecutors seek lengthy prison terms for suspects in cases linked to the war in Ukraine

A Russian court in Siberia has sentenced a man to 19 years in prison for shooting a military enlistment officer in an attack last September linked to the war in Ukraine

A Russian court in Siberia on Friday sentenced a man to 19 years in prison for shooting a military enlistment officer while prosecutors in St. Petersburg asked for a 28-year sentence for a woman charged in the bombing of a cafe last April that killed a prominent military blogger, reports said.

The developments underscore the authorities’ determination to harshly punish anyone who acts against President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, especially those committing acts of violence, in the run-up to the presidential election in March that the Russian president is all but certain to win.

But even peaceful protesters have been slapped with long prison terms as the Kremlin cracks down on dissent following its invasion of Ukraine, attempting to jail and silence Putin’s critics.

In the Siberian city of Irkutsk, 26-year-old timber truck driver Ruslan Zinin was sentenced Friday to 19 years after opening fire in September 2022 at the military enlistment office in Ust-Ilimsk, a town 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) north of Irkutsk, the state-run Tass news agency reported.

The shooting came a few days after Putin ordered a partial military mobilization to boost his forces fighting in Ukraine, sparking rare protests across Russia that were shut down, sometimes brutally.