An activist from Crimea has been sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of high treason and preparing a terrorist attack.

The Southern District Military Court has sentenced 26-year-old activist Alina Grek from Crimea to 15 years in prison on charges of high treason and preparing to set fire to a relay cabinet. This was reported by TASS.

According to the case file on the court website, the verdict was delivered on 14 August. The case had been under consideration since December 2024. From January to March 2025, hearings were repeatedly postponed because the defendant was not brought to court.

The court found the activist guilty of high treason (Art. 275 of the Criminal Code), receiving training in terrorist activity (Art. 205.3), and preparing a terrorist act (Part 1 Art. 205 with Article 30(1)).

According to the security forces, in September 2023 Grek contacted an officer of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry and told him that she wanted to collaborate for money. After that, on his instructions, she allegedly purchased components to make improvised incendiary devices.

The security forces claim that the activist planned to set fire to a railway relay cabinet in the Simferopol district—an act they classified as preparation for a terrorist attack.

In January 2024, in the area of the village of Konstantinovka, Grek set fire to a device she had made and sent a video of this to the Ukrainian intelligence officer. After this, he reportedly instructed her to make another device and use it to set fire to a relay cabinet. On 22 January 2024, Grek was detained, supposedly after making another device. By 30 January, her name was added to Rosfinmonitoring’s list of “terrorists and extremists.”

• Alina Grek, a resident of Simferopol (the main city in Crimea), openly opposed the policies of Vladimir Putin and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On 23 January 2021, together with her husband, she took part in a demonstration supporting Alexei Navalny. The activist’s husband was detained and fined 5,000 rubles (about US$55) under a protocol for violating the high-alert regime introduced due to the coronavirus (Part 1 Art. 20.6.1 of the Administrative Code). Afterwards, security forces began monitoring the couple and summoned them several times to the prosecutor’s office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
• In April 2021, Grek was jailed for five days over a video, “Epic Rap Battle—Putin vs Hitler,” which she had saved on her VKontakte page in 2014. The court found her guilty of distributing extremist materials (Art. 20.29 of the Administrative Code). The Crimean activist believed the video was used as a pretext for her arrest ahead of another rally in support of Navalny.
• In June 2022, police came to Grek’s home because of a post with the image and hashtag “No to war.” The security forces searched her home, seizing her phone and laptop. The activist was then taken to the local FSB office and afterwards to the Centre “E,” where she was booked for “discrediting the army” (Part 1 Art. 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code). The court fined Grek 30,000 rubles (about US$330) on that occasion.