Andrey Grishin

Andrey Grishin is a journalist from Magadan, the creator of the Ves Magadan project and the founder and former editor-in-chief of the regional media outlet Vesma. The publication covered local politics, social issues and the work of authorities in Russia’s Magadan region.

After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Grishin publicly opposed the war and later left Russia.

Russian authorities have prosecuted him under two separate legal provisions. The first case concerns Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code, which criminalizes what the authorities describe as knowingly false information about the Russian armed forces. Investigators say the case concerns material Grishin published in late 2022. Publicly available reports do not identify the exact text or all qualifying paragraphs of the charge.

The second charge is under Part 2 of Article 330.1, concerning repeated failure to comply with requirements imposed on people or organizations designated as “foreign agents.” The authorities designated Vesma a “foreign agent” in 2023 and allege that Grishin continued publishing material without the mandatory label.

In March 2026, Grishin was placed on a wanted list and Rosfinmonitoring added him to its register of “terrorists and extremists.” His criminal case was sent to court later that month.

In June 2026, a Russian court convicted him in absentia and sentenced him to six years and six months in a general-regime penal colony. Because Grishin remains outside Russia, he is not physically serving the sentence.