Eight years in a general regime colony was given to a former dentist who proclaimed himself “acting president of the USSR.” The Zelenograd court of Moscow found 60-year-old Sergei Taraskin guilty under the “extremist” article 282.

According to investigators, Taraskin coordinated the activities of the Union of Slavic Forces of Russia (USSR, also known as Home to the USSR), a recognized extremist organization banned in Russia. Court filings state that the “president” developed and issued “orders and decrees,” as well as recruiting new members and posting propaganda videos on the Internet.

The “USSR” is one of several structures whose members consider themselves successors to the former Soviet state and do not recognize Russian law. They are convinced that the Soviet Union legally continues to exist, and the Russian Federation is illegitimate.

Before the ban, the organization had branches in dozens of Russian regions.

Sergey Taraskin is a former dentist from Dushanbe with 25 years of experience. In 2008, he decided to open a clinic in Zelenograd, but he had financial difficulties.

Taraskin began to sue in the Moscow Arbitration Court, he appealed against all decisions not in his favor.

It was in the courts in 2010 that he declared himself “acting president of the USSR.” As can be seen from the documents published by Taraskin, which he submitted to the Arbitration Court, he tried to substantiate his position by the fact that Russia supposedly does not exist de jure.

In these documents, he calls himself “Emperor of the Russian Empire”, “President of the RSFSR” and “President of the USSR”.

“For more than 18 years, this position was vacant, none of the soldiers and officers of the Soviet army, who were supposed to fulfill their own military oath, entered this position,” Taraskin explained, calling ex-president of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev a “deserter.”

In his communities on Facebook, VKontakte and on the Youtube channel, Taraskin posted his “decrees” in which he revived the KGB, SMERSH and partisan detachments. He also demanded the return of all officials to the USSR and issued an order “On the Third World War” – on a possible NATO offensive.

As Taraskin declared to his followers, “Soviet citizens” should not pay loans and taxes, as well as for housing and communal services. At the same time, each of them is entitled to 14 billion rubles. This amount was called by the NTV channel in a video about the dentist’s followers.

The “president” held meetings with associates via Skype, and sometimes in the form of organized paid seminars.

Taraskin was able to build a semblance of a power vertical: he had a “prime minister”, “ambassador at large” and “governors” in more than 10 regions of Russia.

In July 2019, the Komi Supreme Court recognized the “USSR” as an extremist organization and banned its activities. After that, they came to Sergei Taraskin with searches and opened a criminal case against him.

The investigation went on for almost three years.

As Anna Malinovskaya, press secretary of the Zelenograd court, told RIA Novosti that Taraskin was found guilty under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Organizing the activities of an extremist organization.” The punishment under this article is up to 10 years in prison, the court gave Taraskin eight years.

Along with imprisonment, the convict was sentenced to a restriction of freedom for a year and a half after his release and a three-year ban on organizing public associations.

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