SIBERIAN TEENS CONVICTED TO PRISON FOR PLOTTING TO BLOW UP MINECRAFT VERSION OF FSB BUILDING



It sounds awful to be sentenced for playing a videogame, but it is possible if you're Russian-born.



Nikita Uvarov, who is 16 years old, was recently found guilty of "training for terrorist activities" by a Russian military court, following the teen plotted to destroy a virtual version of the FSB which is the country's domestic intelligence agency...while playing Minecraft. Priority Game was sentenced to five years in prison.



The Moscow Times reports that Uvarov, along with his two friends, Bogdan Andreyev and Denis Mikhailenko were detained in the year 2020 for a series of crimes that the government came to conclude were part of a risky plot. The group were planning to detonate a virtual FSB and distributed flyers to support Azat Miftakhov (a Russian anarchist) who was also arrested for vandalism in 2019. Authorities have also claimed that they employed improvised explosives to target abandoned buildings.



All of this resulted in the boys being found guilty of "undergoing training for the purpose of carrying out terrorist activities" and receiving prison sentences. Andreyev, Mikhailenko and Mikhailenko each pleaded guilty to charges and were sentenced with a suspended sentence. Uvarov, however, maintained his innocence and was sent to prison.



It's not totally clear if the government's contention is that the video game was played as a sort of virtual training exercise for actual terroristic acts. Minecraft, the wildly played video game, is famous for allowing players to construct their own customizable structures. The Russian government has made it clear that it believes that the teenagers weren't just playing games and were actually planning something grave.


Created: 19/07/2022 06:27:15
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