A resident of the Moscow Region is accused of bringing Ukrainian drones to Kursk airfields
The second Western District Military Court began to consider the criminal case of a 53-year-old resident of the Moscow Region Eldar Marchenko, accused of terrorism. According to investigators, in 2023, with the help of a special program, he transferred the coordinates of two airfields in the Kursk region to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (Armed Forces), to which the UAV rades were then committed. True, drones did not achieve goals: one was shot down, and the other crashed into a nine -story house.
When the court established the identity of Eldar Marchenko, it turned out that he was born in Baku, where, according to him, he graduated from the State University of Oil and Industry. Subsequently, he moved to his mother in Russia, taking her surname. He was married, but after his arrest in 2024 he divorced and was even deprived of parental rights. Answering the question of the judge Evgeny Zubov, the defendant said that he had two sons of 1999 and 2013.
But at what means Eldar Marchenko lived with his family, remained unclear. Without stopping on this issue, the lawyer hastened to submit a request to close the proceedings on the grounds that data on the personality of the defendant and state secrets could be disclosed. But the judge of Zubov decided that in closed mode it would be possible to hold certain meetings, and only if the petitions arrive.
The prosecutor said that Eldar Marchenko acted not one, but as part of an “organized group”. True, who was still entering it, did not report. According to the investigation, in 2022–2023, the special services of Ukraine actively recruited Russians. They also conducted reconnaissance at military facilities, in particular at airfields. With the help of navigation programs, they set the exact coordinates of the objects on which the Armed Forces of Ukraine were planned. Sometimes, special beacons were installed to insure the places of possible arrivals of enemy UAVs.
Eldar Marchenko himself was blamed for the acquisition of a navigation program, which he first activated and tested in the area of the airfields near Moscow. Then the accused, according to investigators, went to the Kursk region, where he determined the geo of the two airfields – civil and military.
However, launched from the territory of Ukraine on August 26 and 27, 2023 the UAVs did not reach them: one crashed into a nine -story house on Karl Marx Street in Kursk, the other was shot down in the area of private development of the same city.
By the way, the victims from that raid participated in a meeting from the Kursk court on video conferences. From their further testimony it followed that in those days of arrivals from Ukraine there were much more, but the drones could be brought to other persons from among the recruited.
How Eldar Marchenko was detained, the prosecutor did not report. But, according to Kommersant, it could be issued by former accomplices from the terrorist group, whose arrests began in February 2023. In addition to terrorism, they were blamed for the organization of mass murders, an encroachment on the life of law enforcement officials, etc.
Eldar Marchenko was taken into custody only on August 1, 2024. And, according to the prosecutor, he spent a whole month in one of the IVS near Moscow. The charge under Part 2 of Art. 205 (a terrorist act committed by a group of persons with the causes of grave consequences) was presented to the detained GSU of the Investigative Committee only on September 13, 2024. After that, Marchenko, at the request of the investigation, was arrested by the Basmanny District Court of Moscow.
Answering the questions, the defendant stated that although he understands the essence of the accusation, he does not plead guilty. Explanations, according to him, he is ready not to give now, but during the interrogation.
In the meantime, the testimonies were given by the victims – a resident of the victim house on Karl Marx Street and the acting Minister of Housing of the Kursk Region Alexander Mulevin.
The latter explained that he had filed a lawsuit to compensate for the damage of 397 thousand rubles. Although it followed from his own story that the total damage amounted to at least 1.6 million rubles. But the official did not change the sum of the claim, since the subordinates to him only inserted the knocked out windows.
A resident of the house on Karl Marx Street, into which the UAV crashed into, generally demanded that the material damage, which was compensated by city services, but moral. “I woke up at night from the explosion, and glass flew over me,” the victim said. “And then they told me that I was born in a shirt because I was alive and did not get hurt.” The victim requested 300 thousand rubles, which somewhat surprised the judge. Having consulted with the participants in the process, he announced that he intends to complete the trial for eight meetings by June 19.
