The FSB Directorate for the Ulyanovsk region reported the initiation of a criminal case on 'treason', with a resident of Tuva, previously detained in a case of involvement in a 'terrorist organization', as the defendant. He is in a pre-trial detention center, this preventive measure was chosen for him in the previous criminal case.
The man is suspected of collecting and transmitting to Ukraine data 'on the state of the state border between Russia and Mongolia, as well as on ways to legally and illegally cross it'.
As 'Mediazona'* writes, it is about a composer from St. Petersburg, Ilya Sinkin**, who lived both in Tuva and in the Ulyanovsk region. In March 2023, Sinkin was appointed the first Deputy Minister of Culture of Tuva, but later it became known that he became a defendant in a criminal case.
In July 2024, he was included in the list of 'terrorists and extremists', maintained by Rosfinmonitoring. Next to the composer's surname was an 'asterisk', indicating that he is being prosecuted under a 'terrorist' article.
According to information in the court card, in the first criminal case, he was charged with 'participation in a terrorist organization'. '73.online' reported that Sinkin is accused of involvement in 'Artpodgotovka', which was recognized as an 'extremist' organization in 2017. In 2021, on this basis, the FSB identified a 'terrorist organization' consisting 'of participants of the Interregional Public Movement 'Artpodgotovka'.
Sinkin was born in 1977 in St. Petersburg. In 1997, he graduated from the Ulyanovsk Music College, and then from the Moscow State Conservatory named after P. I. Tchaikovsky. In Tuva, before being appointed to the position of Deputy Minister of Culture, the man worked at the National Music and Drama Theater named after V. Kok-ool. In addition, the composer was engaged in transcribing and notating Tuvan throat singing and folk songs.
* Recognized in Russia as a 'foreign agent'.
** Included in the list of 'terrorists and extremists'.