September 5, 2026, 7:46 AMTELEGRAMRSSRU
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Polina Barabash

At largeChecked against the source: September 5, 2026, 6:09 AM
Criminal Code
Article 207 part 2, Russian Criminal Code
Case category
Anti-war cases
Region
Saint Petersburg
City
Saint Petersburg

Case summary

On 4 April she hung an anti-war banner and chained herself to the fence of the military hospital on Suvorovsky Prospekt. The action was filmed by "Soty" journalist Viktoria Arefieva. At that time, men in military uniform approached the girls, demanded to stop the action and attacked Victoria: they threw her and the participants of the action on the ground, causing the journalist's glasses and phone to break. The men took away the girls' personal belongings and gave them back only when the police arrived. Barabash was detained. The attacking men were not detained. She was detained on the night of May 8th after searches. Released on 10 May under an undertaking to appear. The pro-government St. Petersburg channel "78" reported that Barabash and other detainees were planning to "participate in illegal actions on Victory Day". On 23 October, police came to Barabash's flat, where an evening of letters to political prisoners was being held. They said that they had a search warrant and that they would cut down the door if it was not opened. In the end, they did not break down the door and conduct a search.

Others charged under Article 207 part 2, Russian Criminal Code

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Source: this person’s record in the OVD-Info political persecution database

Published under CC BY 3.0. The criteria for treating a person as politically persecuted belong to OVD-Info; FACTUM relays their assessment and makes none of its own.

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