Alexander Andreev

Alexander Georgievich Andreev is a journalist from Chita in Russia’s Trans-Baikal region. During the first half of the 2010s he worked as a freelance correspondent for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Russian Service and contributed to the program Korrespondentsky Chas. He also wrote for Kasparov.ru and MBKh Media. One of his reported assignments concerned supporters of Yakut shaman Alexander Gabyshev as they passed through Chita on their march toward Moscow. Andreev had also worked professionally as a translator and editor and in 2014 headed the Trans-Baikal branch of the opposition party Zapadny Vybor.

Chita.ru first reported his detention on April 1, 2026. Eight days later Russia’s Federal Security Service announced the arrest of a former RFE/RL freelance correspondent in the region without naming him. Multiple independent outlets matched the details in the announcement to Andreev.

The FSB alleges that Andreev communicated through Telegram with an account it associates with Ukraine’s Security Service and transmitted information about the online resources of a regional media outlet and a critical-infrastructure facility. According to the agency, the information was intended for use in cyberattacks. These claims remain allegations by the prosecution; no public trial examining the evidence has yet taken place.

Andreev faces a high-treason charge under Article 275 of the Russian Criminal Code. Memorial lists him as born in 1960 and residing in Chita. His case remains at the investigation stage, and the project gives Chita Pre-Trial Detention Centre No. 1 as his presumed place of detention. No sentence had been publicly reported as of September 27, 2026.