He worked as a lawyer in the Ministry of Economy of the Kaliningrad region, then as a lawyer in a private company "Yurist-Praktik". A month after the detention and arrest of his wife Antonina Zimina, on 8 August 2018, searches took place at her father's home, where Antonets lived, and at Antonets' place of work. On 10 July 2019, Antonets was detained in a case of state treason and taken into custody.

Subsequently, the spouses' criminal cases were merged. Initially, it was reported based on Zimina's declaraions that the reason for the prosecution was taking photos at her wedding, which turned out to depict FSB officer Maxim Denisenko (who was not at that moment hiding his place of work) and then sending those photos to guests from Latvia and Lithuania. Later it became known that the case involves the transfer to Latvian intelligence of secret documentation allegedly obtained by Antonets during his work as a lawyer in the Ministry of Economy of the Kaliningrad region.

On 24 December 2020 Antonets was sentenced to 12 and a half years in a strict regime penal colony and a fine of 100,000 rubles. In detention, he almost entirely lost his eyesight. His relatives insist on a medical examination.

You can read more about politically persecuted people in the Telegram channel OVD-Info LIVE and our politically motivated criminal prosecutions in Russia database