Russia’s Western District Military Court No. 2 has sentenced Ukrainian wedding host and showman Artem Klassen in absentia to 30 years in prison on charges of involvement in a “terrorist attack”in Ryazan region.
The ruling was passed on 13 May 2026, reports Mediazona, citing the Russian Investigation Committee.
According to the ruling, Klassen has to serve the first 10 years of his sentence in a prison and the rest of the term in a high-security colony. He was convicted of committing and attempting terrorist attacks, illegally manufacturing and transporting explosive substances and devices, and of attempting to do so.
The Russian investigators claim that Klassen was involved in a group organising terrorist attacks in Ryazan region in 2022 and 2023. This group, the prosecution claimed, included Russian–Italian national Ruslan Sidiki, who was sentenced to 29 years in prison on terrorism charges in 2025.
The Russian Investigation Committee alleges that Klassen facilitated contact between Sidiki and Ukrainian special services, who trained the former in “terrorist activities” and then used him to carry out several terrorist attacks. These included explosions at the military air base in Diaghilev and sabotage of the Rybne–Blokpost railway, which derailed a freight train. He is also said to have been involved in an attempted railway sabotage near the Ryazan village of Dashki.
According to the investigators, Sidiki underwent training abroad, in particular in Turkiye and Latvia.
The Russian Prosecutor General reported in March that the Ukrainian showman’s case had been submitted to court. Klassen was put on the wanted persons list and arrested in absentia; the case was registered in court on 19 March and the ruling was announced on 13 May.
In a comment to the Institute of Mass Information journalist Valentyna Troyan, Artem Klassen said that he had been unaware of the Russian court ruling or of case against him in general.
