Valeria Kichigina
- Criminal Code
- Article 207.3 part 2 item d, Russian Criminal Code
- Case category
- Anti-war cases
- Verdict
- Ban on activity, Imprisonment (in absentia)
- Sentence
- 10 years
- Date of verdict
- 2026-03-24
- Region
- MoscowBashkortostan
- City
- Moscow, Ufa
Case summary
A resident of Ufa, a Dozhd journalist, has left Russia. She was prosecuted for spreading deliberately false information about the Russian Armed Forces. The reason for the prosecution was a repost of an article by journalist Dmitry Kolezev about the killing of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha and an Instagram story on the anniversary of the war in Georgia, in which Kichigina wrote that "15 years 20 per cent of Georgia has been occupied by Russia".
In June 2025, the case went to court in Ufa, but the court did not hear the case and referred it to Moscow. In July 2025, the Moscow court returned the case to Ufa. However, in October 2025, the case came back to the Moscow court. On 24 March 2026, Kichigina was sentenced in absentia to ten years' imprisonment.
Others charged under Article 207.3 part 2 item d, Russian Criminal Code
What we write about political persecution
Recent material from this section. This is section navigation — the articles below are not about this person.
- 2026-09-04Georgia court clears extradition of Fugal ally to Russia
- 2026-09-04Russia labels Novaya Gazeta a 'foreign agent,' adds over 100 affiliated names
- 2026-09-04Russian court sentences hostage-takers from Rostov detention center to up to 29 years
- 2026-09-04Two Yabloko Duma candidates detained in Moscow two days before vote
- 2026-09-03British man says Russian police beat him, jumped on his head at station in Yessentuki
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.
OVD-Info has been designated an «extremist» organisation in Russia — by decision of the Russian authorities, like other independent human rights and media projects.