Teenager Jailed For Plotting To Blow Up Minecraft Virtual Building, Training For 'Terrorist Activities'

A teenager in Russia is facing prison time for allegedly planning to blow up a virtual building in the video game, Minecraft.

Authorities accused the teenager of training for terrorist activities, among other offenses. The 16-year-old boy, Nikita Uvarov, was sentenced to five years in prison Thursday by a Siberian military court, which found him guilty of “undergoing training for the purpose of carrying out terrorist activities,” the Moscow Times reported.

Uvarov and two other teens, Denis Mikhailenko and Bogdan Andreyev, were arrested in the year 2020 for handing out political leaflets in support of a Moscow mathematician, who was in custody at the time. They also put up a leaflet on the local Federal Security Services (FSB) office that included the words: “the FSB is the main terrorist.” The three teenagers were arrested after the 2020 incident.

Investigators went through the teenagers’ phones, and found they were plotting to blow up a virtual FSB building, which they had created in Minecraft. Online conversations between the boys showed them criticizing the FSB and reading banned books, the investigators claimed. They also said the boys would make firecrackers and light them up in abandoned spaces, RFE/RL reported.

“I had a desire to learn something new, I liked to learn something about physics, chemistry, biology, about various famous scientists; I also watched scientific and educational programs,” Uravov said, as he addressed the court Thursday.

“I am not a terrorist, I am not guilty,” the teen added. “I would just like to finish my studies, get an education and go somewhere far away from here, somewhere I don’t irritate anyone from the special services.”

Lawyer Pavel Chikov told The Guardian the two other defendants were cleared of criminal charges because they cooperated with investigators. They were placed under house arrest after pleading guilty.

Uvarov now faces five years in prison in a ruling that is akin to the pattern under President Vladimir Putin’s rule of putting youngsters behind bars on preemptive terrorism charges.

If sent to prison, Uvarov said in his statement in court, he “will serve the sentence with a clean conscience and dignity.”