The Orekhovo-Zuyevo City Court ordered a resident of the Moscow region into pretrial detention, accusing him of financing a terrorist organization through paid Telegram reactions. According to investigators, the man sent Stars to the owner of a Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) channel, a Russian paramilitary group fighting on Ukraine’s side against Russia and designated as a terrorist organization by Russian authorities. He will remain in custody until October 10, 2026.
A similar case is being heard in Nizhny Tagil. The Leninsky District Court arrested Ilya Pylaev, who, according to investigators, used paid reactions to transfer 1,148 rubles to a person “linked to a terrorist organization.” He was charged under Part 1.1 of Article 205.1 of the Russian Criminal Code, which provides for liability for financing terrorism.
Earlier, a 60-year-old woman from the Moscow region was arrested under the same article. Investigators allege that she sent 100 paid reactions to a post published by the Freedom of Russia Legion for a total of about 220 rubles.
In July, a court sentenced a 17-year-old resident of the Kemerovo region to four years in a juvenile correctional facility for sending paid reactions to posts on a channel linked to Ukrainian military units.
How Telegram Stars Are Linked to Cryptocurrency
Telegram Stars is the messenger’s internal currency, which users can buy to pay for reactions, subscriptions, and digital goods. Channels that receive Stars can convert them into Gram through Fragment.
Investigators are relying on the ability to convert received Stars into cryptocurrency as grounds for classifying such transactions as the “transfer of funds to persons linked to terrorist organizations.”
At the same time, the Telegram Stars system itself does not mean that every purchase of Stars or paid reaction automatically constitutes a cryptocurrency transfer: the legal classification of specific transactions by Russian investigative authorities is what matters here.
The Amount of the Transfer Does Not Matter
Part 1.1 of Article 205.1 of the Russian Criminal Code provides for liability for financing terrorism, and the article does not set a minimum amount required for criminal liability.
As a result, criminal cases have already been opened over transactions involving just a few hundred or even a few dozen rubles.