“Separatism in Yakutia does not come out of nowhere” — editors on a Yakutsk ‘terrorism financing’ detention

The news

On 19 October 2026, Lenta.ru (report), citing the Rosgvardia (National Guard) press service, said special forces in Yakutsk had detained a local man “suspected of cooperating with Ukrainian intelligence”. What follows are claims by Russian security agencies, relayed by state and local media; they have not been independently verified.

• According to Rosgvardia and the regional FSB (Rosgvardia, YSIA), the young man, a “supporter of separatist ideology”, “actively studied the activities of a terrorist movement” whose organiser lives abroad and, the agency claims, works with foreign including Ukrainian intelligence services, and he repeatedly sent “donations” to its accounts.
• The FSB says a criminal case was opened and he was charged under Article 205.1(1.1) of the Criminal Code (financing terrorism) and remanded in custody (Ekho Stolitsy).
• Neither the man’s name nor the “movement” was named. We found no statement from the detainee or a lawyer, no coverage by independent outlets (Meduza, Sibir.Realii, Mediazona), and no statement by the Free Yakutia Foundation at the time of publication.

According to Sardaana News, the detainee walked out of Yakutsk airport.

He is presumed innocent; only a court can find a person guilty.

Context

Free Yakutia’s status. Founded in August 2022 and registered in Poland, the foundation was listed as a “foreign agent” on 16 June 2023 and as “extremist” (Justice Ministry). On 22 November 2024 Russia’s Supreme Court declared the “Free Nations of Post-Russia Forum” terrorist, naming Free Yakutia among its 172 “structural units” (Prosecutor General). Co-founder Sargylana Kondakova told The Moscow Times the foundation is not part of the Forum and called the ruling “defamation” (MT).

Language. 2018 amendments to the Education Law made the study of republics’ state languages voluntary, by parental application (State Duma). A study on CyberLeninka reports 419 of 652 schools (63%) taught in Sakha in 2018 (70% in 2003/04); in Yakutsk the share of Sakha children taught in their language fell from 24.3% (2017) to 22.7% (2018) (CyberLeninka).

Taxes. In 2024 Yakutia collected 402 bn roubles in taxes; 183 bn (~45%) went to the federal budget, mostly oil extraction tax; 103 bn came back as federal transfers (Vostokgosplan).

War losses. Bessudnov (2023) counted 43.0 deaths per 100,000 working-age men in Yakutia vs 3.1 in Moscow, about 14 times more (Demographic Research). According to Sardaana News, Yakutia has mobilised about three times as many people as Russian regions.

Pressure abroad. Russian courts prosecute Free Yakutia activists abroad in absentia. According to Sardaana News, about 30,000 Sakha people live outside Russia.

Sardaana News editorial position

This is the editors’ opinion, not news.

Separatism in Yakutia does not arise out of nowhere. Russia takes the republic’s taxes, pursues forced Russification, systematically tries to destroy the Sakha language and culture, assimilate the people, and restrict Sakha in schools and kindergartens. The share of men mobilised from Yakutia is about three times that of Russian regions. All this amounts to a systemic, hidden genocide of the Yakut people.

Efforts to preserve the language and culture, and calls for independence or broad autonomy, unnerve Moscow. Russia conducts transnational political repression against Yakuts living in the USA, Canada, Australia, Poland, Germany, South Korea, Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina, where about 30,000 ethnic Yakuts live abroad. The attempt to destroy the Free Yakutia Foundation is a sign of the suppression of Yakut resistance.