Alexander Panasenko, a resident of Russia's Kemerovo region who was sentenced in 2025 to four years and four months in prison over a comment about the St. George ribbon, was killed in Russia's war against Ukraine, according to his mother, who spoke to Mediazona.
The woman said Panasenko, 31, stopped contacting his family in November 2025. The military command later informed the family that his unit had gone on a combat mission and come under attack.
His mother also said he had wanted to go to war even before his trial and signed a military contract while being held in a penal colony in Kemerovo.
Panasenko was sentenced on April 21, 2025, to four years and four months in prison. The case stemmed from a comment that investigators alleged he posted on May 2, 2024, beneath a photograph of a St. George ribbon in a VKontakte group called Incident Kuzbass.
The comment referred to an intention to desecrate a purchased St. George ribbon. Russian investigators classified the statement as the desecration of a symbol of military glory online under Part 4 of Article 354.1 of the Russian Criminal Code.
After his detention, a video showing Panasenko apologizing appeared in the same group. In the footage, he stood with a St. George ribbon and a badge bearing the letter Z attached to his clothing.
Panasenko admitted guilt, and the case was heard under a simplified procedure. When sentencing him, the court also converted two previously imposed suspended sentences in drug-related cases into actual imprisonment. His final sentence was four years and four months in a general-regime penal colony.
Panasenko had also previously faced criminal prosecution in a case involving repeated publication of prohibited symbols and materials designated as extremist. However, he had already completed the punishment in that case by the time of his new sentence.
Russian law allows certain categories of convicted prisoners to sign military contracts. Desecration of symbols of military glory is not among the offenses that automatically exclude a person from that possibility.
The available information does not establish the precise terms under which Panasenko signed his contract, the military unit in which he served or the exact circumstances of his death.
The account of his death and military service is based on his mother's testimony. No independent official confirmation of the circumstances of his death was available at the time of publication.
Panasenko's case illustrates how a man who received a prison sentence for a public statement subsequently ended up on the battlefield, where, according to his family, he was killed.