Vadim Tomilov, a successful 11th grade (17-year-old) student who loved playing sports, has been sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment in a strict regime penal colony.
In May 2024, without telling his parents, he left Irbit for Ekaterinburg, from where he planned to fly to Tbilisi and then join the Russian Volunteer Corps in Ukraine. His parents began searching for him and contacted the police for help. At the same time, they managed to contact him and convinced him to abandon his plans to go to Ukraine. Vadim gave them the address of the hostel in Ekaterinburg where he was staying and waited for them there. His parents gave the hostel’s address to the police and forwarded their correspondence with their son, which mentioned the Russian Volunteer Corps.
Vadim was detained and charged with attempting to commit treason by defecting to the enemy (Article 30, Part 3, of the Russian Criminal Code in conjunction with Article 275 CC RF) and preparing to participate in the activities of a terrorist organization (Article 30, Part 1, CC RF in conjunction with Article 205.5, Part 2, CC RF).
On 15 September 2025, Tomilov was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment in a strict regime penal colony, with the first three years to be served in a cell-type prison.
Memorial has recognised Vadim Tomilov as a political prisoner.
The court heard Vadim’s correspondence with his father, from which it follows that the young man abandoned his idea of joining the Russian Volunteer Corps and decided to return home. Therefore Tomilov is not subject to criminal liability. Even if we assume Tomilov did intend to participate in combat operations as part of the Russian Volunteer Corps, he could not have been held criminally liable in any case. The decision to designate the Russian Volunteer Corps a terrorist organization contradicts international law. The Russian Volunteer Corps is part of the Ukrainian armed forces and is legitimately participating in the war on the side of the Ukrainian state as it defends itself from Russian aggression. Participation in an armed conflict cannot in itself be considered terrorist activity. The charge of preparing to commit treason by defecting to the enemy unlawful. The only prohibited form of participation by a foreigner in hostilities is mercenary activity, a definition that does not apply to Tomilov’s alleged participation in the Russian Volunteer Corps. The simultaneous charges against Tomilov that he prepared to participate in the activities of a terrorist organization and to commit treason are illogical. If his actions are considered defection to the enemy, then the Russian Volunteer Corps is recognized as part of the Ukrainian armed forces, and not a terrorist organization.
– Memorial, 28 October 2025
Write to Vadim Tomilov
The Russian penal system does not allow any messages to prisoners that are written in foreign languages, but Write to Russia is here to help you. To show your support for Vadim Tomilov, please send your letter as an email to us at: le******************@********il.com. We’ll translate your letter into Russian and, depending on your request, either mail the translated letters on your behalf to Vadim Tomilov, or return the letters to you by email for posting in an envelope with addresses written in Russian. If we send the letter on your behalf, we ask that you compensate us for the cost of postage from the UK (currently £3.40 [$4.52; €3.90] for one letter). For suggestions on what to write to a political prisoner, click here. To learn more about our letter writing project, click here: Write to Russia.
The presumed address to write to Vadim Tomilov is:
Russian Federation – 624860, Свердловская область, г. Камышлов, ул. Урицкого, д. 16б, ФКУ СИЗО-4 ГУФСИН России по Свердловской области, Томилов Вадим Артёмович, 2006 г. р.
The persons unjustly imprisoned in Russia whose plight our project Write to Russia has highlighted to date can be found at this link:
