A Russian FSB officer who ran a ‘Kremlin-insider’ Telegram channel is sentenced to 11 years for extorting a tech company
Mikhail Polyakov, administrator of the Telegram channel Kremlyovskaya Prachka, has been sentenced to 11 years in a penal colony on extortion charges, according to a correspondent for the Telegram channel Ostorozhno, Novosti, reporting from the courtroom.
The Moscow Garrison Military Court found Polyakov guilty of extorting 42.5 million rubles from the Russian IT company LANIT. According to case materials, he demanded the money in exchange for not publishing negative information on Telegram channels — the so-called “block” on negative coverage. The case also implicates the Telegram channels Nezygar, VChK-OGPU, Banksta, and BRIEF, as well as Kremlyovskaya Prachka, according to Ostorozhno, Novosti.
Investigators say Polyakov ran the extortion scheme from November 2020 to July 2023, while serving as an officer in Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), assigned to the second service of its Moscow directorate, which is responsible for protecting the constitutional order and countering terrorism. By the time he was detained on July 14, 2023, Polyakov had already retired from the FSB. The court also stripped him of his rank of retired colonel.
The court fined Polyakov 800,000 rubles as well.
Kremlyovskaya Prachka had more than 260,000 subscribers at the time of Polyakov’s detention. The channel has not been updated since August 2023.
In 2022, police detained administrators and authors of several anonymous Telegram channels on charges of extorting money from officials and businessmen — including the head of Rostec, Sergei Chemezov — in exchange for blocking negative coverage. Among those detained were Kirill Sukhanov, Ksenia Sobchak’s commercial director, and Arian Romanovsky, former editor-in-chief of Tatler. Both were sentenced to prison time: Sukhanov to seven and a half years in a strict-regime penal colony, and Romanovsky to seven years. By August 2026, Romanovsky had been released.
Alexandra Bayazitova, host of the blog Adskie Babki, faced similar charges. In 2023, a court found her guilty of extorting money from Alexander Ushakov, a senior executive at Promsvyazbank, and sentenced her to five years in prison. Bayazitova was released from the penal colony in July 2026.
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