Russian mathematician charged with treason over paid Telegram reactions
Semyon Krasotkin, a 27-year-old Moscow mathematician and journalist, has been jailed on treason charges. Investigators cite paid Telegram reactions worth 2,200 rubles left on opposition and Ukrainian channels.
A 27-year-old Moscow mathematician and journalist, Semyon Krasotkin, has been jailed in Russia on treason charges, the outlet Vot Tak reports. The case centers on Telegram "stars" — paid reactions that work as the messaging app's virtual currency — which he left on posts in opposition and Ukrainian channels. It is among the first treason cases in Russia tied to such reactions.
Detention and custody
A source told Vot Tak that Krasotkin was detained at Domodedovo Airport in mid-August 2026, after a trip to Kyrgyzstan. Border guards searched his phone and found the stars he had left on opposition and Ukrainian Telegram channels.
He was then held through a series of consecutive jail terms for the administrative offense of "petty hooliganism." Vot Tak's sources say he had earlier been threatened with treason charges, torture and violence.
Krasotkin was due to be released on September 17 but remained in custody. He was taken to the Moscow office of the Federal Security Service, Russia's domestic security agency, where a treason investigation was opened. On September 19, a court ordered him held in pretrial detention for two months.
What the case contains
One source said investigators listed star reactions worth a total of 2,200 rubles in the case. Another said he had sent stars to a Ukrainian Telegram meme channel that was probably raising money for Ukraine's armed forces.
Krasotkin holds a master's degree from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and worked as a mathematician at the Trapeznikov Institute of Control Sciences, part of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He joined Russian Wikinews at 16; the project's website lists him as one of its nine administrators, and he has published more than a million news items.
Similar cases
Criminal investigations over Telegram stars have been reported since early 2026, though the first ones involved allegations of financing terrorism. In the summer, the Telegram channel Tyuremny Advokat reported the first treason investigations over such reactions. In September 2026, human rights advocates asked Telegram founder Pavel Durov to make paid reactions anonymous, because people in Russia were facing criminal prosecution over them.
