The key facts

  • Vasily Tsependa has been charged in absentia under Part 2 of Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
  • The case was opened based on materials from the regional FSB Directorate
  • The investigation intends to petition for detention in absentia

New charges for the former deputy

Vasily Tsependa, a former deputy of the Yaroslavl Regional Duma who is outside Russia, has been charged in absentia with participation in the activities of a terrorist organization. This was reported to RIA Novosti by the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Yaroslavl Region, Gazeta.Ru reports. According to the investigation, while abroad, Tsependa took part in a meeting of an organization recognized as terrorist by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. The case was opened based on materials from the regional FSB Directorate under Part 2 of Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Manhunt and preventive measure

Tsependa has been placed on a wanted list; investigators intend to petition the court for a preventive measure in the form of detention in absentia. Earlier, he was convicted in absentia for participation in the activities of an undesirable organization, and in April 2026 the Ministry of Internal Affairs had already placed him on a wanted list. The new charge effectively expands the list of articles under which the former deputy is being prosecuted: from participation in the activities of an undesirable organization to the article on a terrorist organization.

Political biography and what he did

Tsependa was an associate of Boris Nemtsov, who was elected to the Yaroslavl Regional Duma from RPR-Parnas; Tsependa headed the party's regional branch. After Nemtsov's death in 2015, the mandate passed to Tsependa, and he worked in the regional duma on a permanent basis. In 2023, the Supreme Court of Russia dissolved the Parnas party. According to a source of Kommersant-Yaroslavl, the former deputy currently lives outside Russia; in 2021 he ran for the State Duma from Yabloko, worked as director of the Yaroslavl poultry farm Sever, and owned several commercial organizations that have since been liquidated. Earlier, a court in Yaroslavl overturned a fine imposed on the deputy for installing a memorial plaque to Nemtsov.