Commander of an anti-aircraft missile-artillery battalion in Crimea received 15 years imprisonment for desertion and treason. – Center for Investigative Journalism

Sviatoshynskyi District Court of Kyiv 29 July 2026 found the commander of an anti-aircraft missile-artillery battalion 36 of a separate coastal defense brigade, Oleksii Popov, guilty of desertion and state treason.

This was reported by the Center for Investigative Journalism citing the court verdict.

Oleksii Popov is a career Ukrainian serviceman, born in Luhansk region. As follows from his service record, since 2009 he commanded the anti-aircraft missile-artillery battalion of the 36 separate coastal defense brigade, which was stationed in Crimea, in the village of Perevalne, Simferopol district. At the time of the peninsula’s occupation he held the rank of lieutenant colonel.

In the spring of 2014 the military unit in Perevalne was blockaded by Russian troops. According to a witness questioned in court, the servicemen were preparing to defend themselves, but after about three weeks received an order to surrender their weapons and decide: go to the mainland part of Ukraine or be discharged from the army.

A witness who served in Perevalne said that the Russians lined up the servicemen on the parade ground and ordered those who intended to follow the Armed Forces’ command to relocate the unit to Mykolaiv to step out of ranks, then those who were ready to be discharged. Remained on the parade ground were those who decided to live in Crimea and serve the enemy’s army. The witness said that in April 2014 he saw Popov in the occupiers’ army uniform.

The court found that Popov signed the relevant contract and was enrolled in the personnel of the 126 coastal defense brigade of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation, which the occupiers stationed in Perevalne. The panel of judges qualified this as switching to the enemy’s side during an armed conflict.

The court compared these testimonies with other evidence. In particular, the case materials include a video from 2019 about the successful service of servicemen who in 2014 transferred to service in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The video features a Russian army lieutenant colonel at a service meeting, whom witnesses identified as Oleksii Popov.

The real cost of the betrayal became clear in February 2022. Battalion-tactical groups of the 126 coastal defense brigade of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation attacked the territory of Ukraine from northern Crimea. As the CIJ wrote, the brigade lost about 75% of its personnel.

Popov suffered as well. As seen from the text of the verdict, investigators found a list of losses of the 126 coastal defense brigade of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation in one of the Telegram channels. It lists “Lieutenant Colonel Popov Oleksii Ivanovych, born 13.06.1977, chief of air defense – head of department” with the status “300,” which means a wound he received 26 February 2022 during a mortar shelling of the command post. The court stated that these identity details belong to Popov.

Photo from the Telegram channel “Verni menia”

The case was considered under a special in absentia procedure. The court found two crimes proven — state treason and desertion. For the totality of crimes the final punishment is 15 years imprisonment. The verdict can be appealed within 30 days. The term of serving the sentence is to be counted from the moment of actual detention.

Former first deputy commander of the Ukrainian Navy, Vice Admiral Serhii Yeliseyev, was sentenced in absentia to 15 years imprisonment and stripped of the military rank “vice admiral.”