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“We consider criminal prosecution for refusing to participate in military aggression unlawful.” – Memorial

On 30 March 2023, Denis Narolsky, a resident of Crimea, was sentenced by the Russian occupation Crimean Garrison Military Court to serve nine years in a strict regime penal colony. As Memorial reports, Narolsky had been detained by Russian security forces on 25 January 2023. He was subsequently remanded in custody on a charge of desertion (Article 338, Part 3, of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). After the verdict, it became known that, based on messages found on his phone, a criminal case had been opened against Narolsky for treason (Article 275 CC RF).

Denis Narolsky, born and raised in Crimea, completed his mandatory military service in the Ukrainian army. After Russia’s annexation of the peninsula in 2014, he obtained a Russian passport. Memorial reports that from October 2014 to July 2015, Narolsky served as a contract soldier in the Russian army. After fighting broke out in eastern Ukraine, he resigned from the army because he realized he too could be sent to the Donbas. In September 2022, Narolsky was mobilized into the Russian army. But on September 27, he left his military unit in Sevastopol in an attempt to avoid being sent to the front. Narolsky spent two days making his way to his mother’s home in the Saki district of Crimea and then hid from mobilization at dachas, trying to find a way to leave Russian-controlled Crimea for Ukraine.

On 19 June 2026 Memorial reported that Narolsky has been held in a punishment cell for more than a year ever since his arrival at the penal colony in Tomsk region where he is to serve his sentence.

“We consider criminal prosecution for refusing to participate in military aggression unlawful. Narolsky emphasizes that he left his military unit because he sought but could not find any ‘legal ways to resolve the issue.’ Indeed, there are virtually no ‘legal’ ways for those mobilized to avoid participating in the war on grounds of conscience. This situation contradicts both the Russian Constitution and international law, which guarantee the right to refuse military service on grounds of conscience. Narolsky had every reason to refuse to fight against his friends and loved ones in Ukraine. The war unleashed by the Russian leadership against Ukraine has been recognized by the UN General Assembly as a violation of the United Nations Charter and an act of aggression—the gravest international crime.”

– Memorial, 29 January 2024

Write to Denis Narolsky

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 Denis Narolsky 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 Denis Narolsky, 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 £3.60 [$4.89; €4.17] 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.

You can write to Denis Narolsky at the following address:

Russian Federation – 634034, г.Томск, ул. Нахимова, 3/1, ФКУ ИК-4 УФСИН России по Томской области, Нарольский Денис Александрович, 1993 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:

Write to Russia – List of Prisoners

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