A Russian court on Monday sentenced a former military and rescue worker to 19 years in prison for throwing Molotov cocktails at a municipal building to protest the mobilization of soldiers to fight in Ukraine.

This is the longest sentence to date for this type of attacks on official buildings, which have multiplied in Russia since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

And the Tass news agency said that a military court in Akaterinburg had convicted Roman Nasriyev and Alexei Nureyev, notably of committing a "terrorist act" within an organized gang.

According to investigators, Nasriev, who worked in the National Guard, and Nureyev, who worked in the Ministry of Emergency Situations, broke a window on the ground floor of the municipality building of the small town of Bekal in mid-October.

After that, they threw several Molotov cocktails without causing serious damage or casualties in the building.

The two defendants did not deny the facts, but they rejected the charge of committing a terrorist act and confirmed that they wanted to denounce the Russian military campaign in Ukraine.

"I just wanted to show that in our city there are people who oppose mobilization and the special military operation in Ukraine," Nureyev said during the trial, as quoted by the "Zona Solidarnosti" organization.

The two men are old friends who play together in a rock band, according to Russian media.

Dozens of similar anti-war attacks on public buildings have been reported in Russia since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but the charges and sentences handed down have been less harsh.

The Russian authorities equipped themselves with a large legislative arsenal to punish voices opposed to the invasion, sentencing hundreds of activists and ordinary citizens who voiced their opposition to fines or prison terms.