A Russian Orthodox priest, identified as 54-year-old hieromonk Nikandr (Yevgeny Pinchuk), has been sentenced to seven years in a general regime colony by the Sverdlovsk Regional Court in Yekaterinburg. He was found guilty of rehabilitating Nazism and making public calls for extremism. The prosecution had requested 7.5 years.

According to investigators, Pinchuk posted comments in several Telegram channels in 2024 supporting Soviet general Andrey Vlasov, a collaborator with Nazi Germany. The priest reportedly defended Vlasov, calling him a "martyr" who refused to surrender and was captured by Soviet services. Pinchuk also faced charges related to comments in a Telegram channel discussing conflicts between ethnic Russians and individuals from former Soviet republics, where he allegedly used a derogatory term for non-Russian nationalities. He partially admitted to publishing the comments but disputed the motives attributed to him by the investigation. Previously, in March, the Central District Military Court in Yekaterinburg sentenced Pinchuk to five and a half years for justifying terrorism, related to a comment praising Denis Kapustin, founder of the "Russian Volunteer Corps" (recognized as a terrorist organization in Russia). In 2022, he was fined 100,000 rubles for "discrediting the army" over a VKontakte post.