{"id":7490,"date":"2026-07-23T22:32:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T22:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/home\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges"},"modified":"2026-07-24T00:07:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T00:07:19","slug":"angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges","title":{"rendered":"Angola Jails Russians on Terror and Espionage Charges"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press. <\/strong> <\/span>A court in Angola has sentenced two Russian nationals to prison after convicting them on charges related to terrorism, espionage, and membership in a criminal organization. Authorities claim the case is linked to an attempt to influence the political landscape in the country ahead of the presidential elections scheduled for next year.<\/p>\n

The court sentenced Russian political consultant Igor Rachin to 11 years in prison, while translator Lev Lakhtanov received an eight-year sentence. They were found guilty on four out of 11 charges, which included terrorism, espionage, membership in a criminal gang, and illegal possession of currency. The defendants denied all allegations against them.<\/p>\n

The Russians were arrested in August 2025 after Angolan authorities accused them of inciting anti-government protests, conducting a disinformation campaign, and attempting to interfere in the upcoming presidential elections.<\/p>\n

According to the indictment, Rachin and Lakhtanov are involved in a political influence operation linked to the organization “Africa Politology,” which Angolan authorities describe as a Russian political network that emerged from the Wagner Group after its dissolution. The prosecution also accused the organization of seeking to spread anti-Western rhetoric, establish political connections, and influence the political scene in Angola.<\/p>\n

The defendants denied any connection to the Wagner Group or the Russian government, asserting that their presence in Angola was aimed at establishing a Russian cultural center in the capital, Luanda, and that their meetings with political figures from the ruling party and the opposition UNITA party were part of legitimate activities.<\/p>\n

The case also involved Angolan defendants, including sports journalist Amor Carlos Tomi and political activist Francisco Oliveira, who faced similar charges related to the alleged Russian influence operation. The court sentenced Tomi to two years in prison, suspended, while Oliveira was acquitted of all charges.<\/p>\n

The prosecution immediately appealed the ruling upon its issuance, and Tomi is expected to remain in custody pending the appeal’s outcome. Defense attorney Elizio Ngineti expressed disagreement with the court’s decision regarding his clients but stated he accepted the court’s ruling, without further comment on the specifics of the judgment.<\/p>\n

The prosecution also accused the Russians of playing a role in organizing disturbances in Angola in 2025, claiming they paid over $24,000 to local journalists and experts for publishing pro-Russian and anti-government content to effect political change. The prosecution relied on posts, documents, images, and communication data found on the defendants’ devices, which it claimed proved coordination with Angolan political figures.<\/p>\n

The defense rejected these accusations, arguing they were based more on assumptions than concrete evidence. They also criticized the court for denying the request to summon several politicians whose testimonies the defense sought, claiming their statements were not necessary to establish the facts of the case.<\/p>\n

The case has sparked controversy since the trial began in March 2026, after the prosecution refused to read the indictment publicly during one of the sessions, which the defense team objected to as a violation of the principle of open trials. The indictment has also faced criticism for alleged factual and linguistic errors and reliance on unsupported conclusions, points that the prosecution did not clarify.<\/p>\n

Find more news and analyses on Africa<\/span> on the Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press. A court in Angola has sentenced two Russian nationals to prison after convicting them on charges related to terrorism, espionage, and membership in a criminal organization. Authorities claim the case is linked to an attempt to influence the political landscape in the country ahead of the presidential elections scheduled for next year. The court […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":7489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[120],"class_list":{"0":"post-7490","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-policy","8":"tag-africa"},"yoast_head":"\nAngola Jails Russians on Terror and Espionage Charges - Africa Press English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A court in Angola has sentenced two Russian nationals to prison after convicting them on charges related to terrorism,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Angola Jails Russians on Terror and Espionage Charges\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A court in Angola has sentenced two Russian nationals to prison after convicting them on charges related to terrorism,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Africa Press English\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-23T22:32:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-24T00:07:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/07\/sm_1784851441.924951.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"980\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"526\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Angola Jails Russians on Terror and Espionage Charges\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-23T22:32:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-24T00:07:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges\"},\"wordCount\":530,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/07\/sm_1784851441.924951.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges\",\"name\":\"Angola Jails Russians on Terror and Espionage Charges - Africa Press English\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/07\/sm_1784851441.924951.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-23T22:32:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-24T00:07:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"A court in Angola has sentenced two Russian nationals to prison after convicting them on charges related to terrorism,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/07\/sm_1784851441.924951.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/07\/sm_1784851441.924951.jpg\",\"width\":980,\"height\":526,\"caption\":\"Angola Jails Russians on Terror and Espionage Charges\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Angola Jails Russians on Terror and Espionage Charges\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Africa Press English\",\"description\":\"\u0623\u0648\u0644 \u0645\u0648\u0642\u0639 \u0625\u0641\u0631\u064a\u0642\u064a \u064a\u0643\u062a\u0628 \u0628\u0644\u063a\u0629 \u0628\u0644\u062f\u0627\u0646\u0647\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Angola Jails Russians on Terror and Espionage Charges - Africa Press English","description":"A court in Angola has sentenced two Russian nationals to prison after convicting them on charges related to terrorism,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Angola Jails Russians on Terror and Espionage Charges","og_description":"A court in Angola has sentenced two Russian nationals to prison after convicting them on charges related to terrorism,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges","og_site_name":"Africa Press English","article_published_time":"2026-07-23T22:32:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-24T00:07:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":980,"height":526,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/07\/sm_1784851441.924951.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Angola Jails Russians on Terror and Espionage Charges","datePublished":"2026-07-23T22:32:27+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-24T00:07:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges"},"wordCount":530,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/07\/sm_1784851441.924951.jpg","keywords":["Africa"],"articleSection":["Policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges","name":"Angola Jails Russians on Terror and Espionage Charges - Africa Press English","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/07\/sm_1784851441.924951.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-23T22:32:27+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-24T00:07:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"A court in Angola has sentenced two Russian nationals to prison after convicting them on charges related to terrorism,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/07\/sm_1784851441.924951.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/07\/sm_1784851441.924951.jpg","width":980,"height":526,"caption":"Angola Jails Russians on Terror and Espionage Charges"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/angola-jails-russians-on-terror-and-espionage-charges#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Angola Jails Russians on Terror and Espionage Charges"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/","name":"Africa Press English","description":"\u0623\u0648\u0644 \u0645\u0648\u0642\u0639 \u0625\u0641\u0631\u064a\u0642\u064a \u064a\u0643\u062a\u0628 \u0628\u0644\u063a\u0629 \u0628\u0644\u062f\u0627\u0646\u0647","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7490"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7501,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7490\/revisions\/7501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}