Russian court drops case against senior citizen fined for firing his shotgun at Ukrainian drones over his yard
The Volgograd Regional Court dismissed the case against Nikolai Mukhin, a pensioner who was fined for trying to shoot down Ukrainian drones on his own. A source told the Russian state news agency TASS that the court also ordered his confiscated shotgun returned.
The source said the court dismissed the case under Article 24.5, Part 1, Point 3 of Russia’s Administrative Offenses Code, which covers actions taken out of urgent necessity.
According to court documents, Mukhin used a single-barreled hunting shotgun to try to shoot down drones flying over his yard. He then called the police, who instead cited him for discharging a firearm outside a designated shooting area.
In July 2026, a justice of the peace in Yelan, a settlement in the Volgograd region, fined Mukhin 40,000 rubles and ordered his shotgun confiscated. He appealed, but the Yelansky District Court upheld the ruling.
Kursk region Governor Alexander Khinshtein had earlier come to Mukhin’s defense, saying that Article 24 of Russia’s federal weapons law allows citizens to use weapons to protect life, health, and property when acting out of urgent necessity. Such actions, he said, should be welcomed rather than punished.
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