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The Zavolzhsky District Court in Ulyanovsk—an industrial city on the Volga River—has sentenced the editor-in-chief of ASTRA, Anastasiya Chumakova, in absentia to seven years in a penal colony on charges of spreading “military fakes” (paragraph “d” of Part 2, Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code) and evasion of obligations as a “foreign agent” (Part 2, Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code). This was reported by “Ostorozhno, Novosti.”
The “fakes” case relates to nine publications by ASTRA and Chumakova’s personal Telegram channel from March and April 2022. These addressed the killings of civilians in Bucha, Kyiv region, during the Russian occupation. Among them was an interview with a teenager who said that a Russian soldier shot his father dead in front of him.
The second charge concerns “foreign agent” status. Chumakova herself has not been designated a “foreign agent”: ASTRA was added to the registry, and the journalist was listed as an individual connected to a “foreign agent.” Previously, Chumakova had been repeatedly fined for violating “foreign agent” legislation, and in January 2026, a criminal case was initiated against her under Part 2, Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code. Later, it was merged with the “fakes” case.
In addition to the seven-year sentence, Chumakova was fined 200,000 roubles (about US$2,300) and banned from administering websites and other online platforms for four and a half years. The prosecutor had requested a nine-year prison term for the journalist. Chumakova lives outside Russia.
- In October 2025, security forces searched the home of Chumakova’s mother in Ulyanovsk. They read her personal correspondence and seized devices. The journalist herself had not lived in or been registered at the flat for more than ten years.
- Also in October, Chumakova was included on the list of “terrorists and extremists,” and in November, she was declared wanted.