Law enforcers detained a man in St. Petersburg for praising the actions of a terrorist group in his comments online.

A source in the law enforcement agencies told Petersburg Format that the detainee was a man born in 1997. In Telegram messenger he was admiring the crimes committed by Caucasus Emirate terrorist group. The detainee openly called for actions similar to those committed by this group, talking about tactics of fighting in urban conditions against the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

A criminal case was opened against the detainee under Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Public calls to carry out terrorist activities, public justification of terrorism or propaganda of terrorism”). This article provides for up to seven years' imprisonment.

“The Caucasus Emirate” or the “Emirate of Caucasus” is a separatist terrorist group operating in the North Caucasus: Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia. The goal of the group is to separate the entire North Caucasus from Russia and to create an independent Sharia state (emirate) in this region, which implies violent overthrow of the constitutional order.

On 8 February 2010, the Caucasus Emirate was declared a terrorist organisation by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and its activities were banned in the Russian Federation.