The First Western District Military Court handed down the sentence on charges under Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code, which covers public calls for terrorism on the internet, Mediazona reported. The case file lists three instances of such calls.
According to Memorial, cited by OVD-Info, the criminal case was triggered by a comment Averina posted in the Telegram chat Premium Nevzorov Chat. In August 2025, during a discussion of a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, she wrote: "So what? A red carpet with applause? Trump is the disgrace of America. We need to destroy the russkies… we need to bomb Moscow." The comment can no longer be found in the chat.
People who knew Averina told Sever.Realities that she wrote harsh statements after the death of her common-law husband, Yuri Stratiy. He served in the Ukrainian Armed Forces and was killed in May 2023 in the Zaporizhzhia region near the village of Rabotino.
Averina was detained on February 5, 2026, in Ivangorod, Leningrad Region. She had traveled there from Estonia to visit her ill 71-year-old mother. A few days later she was added to the Rosfinmonitoring list of "terrorists and extremists." The case was investigated by the Federal Security Service (FSB) directorate for the Kaluga Region, and after her detention Averina was sent to pretrial detention facility SIZO-1 in Kaluga.
Before the criminal case, Averina worked as a television producer, making entertainment programs for Channel One, Yu, REN TV and Zvezda. She took part in producing Lolita Milyavskaya's show "Bez Kompleksov" and "Bere menna po obmanu," as well as the project "Tainy Chapmana." After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, she closed her public social media profile but, according to acquaintances, reposted anti-war content and wrote comments on forums.
Memorial considers Averina a political prisoner. Rights advocates note that her comment was an emotional reaction to the war and did not pose a real threat.