Journalist Farida Kurbangaleeva has been sentenced in absentia to eight years in a penal colony.

The prosecution requested an eight-year sentence in a penal colony for former VGTRK presenter Farida Kurbangaleeva on charges of “military fakes” (article 207.3 part 2, section d of the Criminal Code) and “justifying terrorism” (article 205.2 part 2 of the Criminal Code). This was reported by Mediazona from courtroom 2 of the Western Military District Court.

The second defendant is Aleksei Baranovskiy, who, according to the investigation, is taking part in combat as part of the “Freedom of Russia” legion on the side of Ukraine. For him, the prosecution is seeking a six-year prison term.

The prosecution believes that Kurbangaleeva “consciously used her reputation and media resources” and, in May 2023, published an interview with Baranovskiy on her YouTube channel, in which, according to the prosecution, there were “statements about the heroism” of the legion. Additionally, posts on the Telegram channel “Prague Castle” dated 14, 15, 16, and 20 January 2023 were included in the charges.

The journalist was arrested in absentia in June 2024. In February 2025, the Prosecutor General’s Office submitted an extradition request to the Czech Republic, but it was denied.

Farida Kurbangaleeva began her career at GTRK Tatarstan and, from 2007, hosted the Vesti programme on the Rossiya-1 channel. In 2014, after the war began in Donbas, she left national broadcasting. From 2018 to 2021, she worked at the TV channel Nastoyashchee Vremya (Current Time).

11:43 Farida Kurbangaleeva has been sentenced in absentia to eight years in a penal colony over her interview with Aleksei Baranovskiy and Telegram posts, reports Mediazona.

Baranovskiy was sentenced in absentia to six years in a penal colony.