A certain Sh. was convicted of treason (Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) for assisting a representative of a foreign state in activities directed against the security of the Russian Federation and sentenced to 5 years' imprisonment in a strict regime correctional colony with restriction of liberty for a period of 1 year and a number of restrictions. The article provides for punishment ranging from 12 to 20 years, up to life imprisonment.

The essence of the case was that, while assisting the Ukrainian security service, Sh. offered Russian military personnel monetary compensation to surrender with weapons and military equipment, collected their personal data for this purpose, and passed it on to the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine).

The court of appeal upheld the sentence.

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, by its ruling № 65-UDP24−3SS-A5, overturned the appeal ruling and sent the criminal case for a new appeal hearing, stating that, within the meaning of Article 64 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, not all mitigating circumstances are exceptional (they give the right to impose a punishment lower than the sanction provided for by law — author’s note), but only those that significantly reduce the degree of public danger of the crime.

The appeal ruling does not contain any justification as to how the data characterising the convicted person, including mitigating circumstances, significantly reduce the degree of public danger of such a crime as high treason, taking into account the specific circumstances of its commission established by the court.

(Review of the judicial practice of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation № 3, approved by the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on 8 October 2025).