Ekaterina Kotrikadze
Ekaterina Kotrikadze, born 1984, Moscow. Charges: Article 207.3 part 2 item d, Russian Criminal Code (Dissemination of false information about the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, government…); “Ekaterina Kotrikadze's case of "fakes" about the Russian army”, opened on July 1, 2025. Sentence (February 16, 2026): 8 years' imprisonment in absentia, 4 years' ban on administering websites. Status: not in Russia.
In brief
Moscow · Moscow · Journalists · Anti-war cases, Cases against "foreign agents"
Sentence
8 years
imprisonment in absentia, 4 years' ban on administering websites
Upheld April 27, 2026
Charges
- Article 330.1 part 2, Russian Criminal Code — Violation of the procedure for activities of a foreign agent, committed by a person after being persecuted for an administrative offence
- Article 207.3 part 2 item d, Russian Criminal Code — Dissemination of false information about the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, government agencies, or mercenaries (based on political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred or enmity, or on grounds of hatred or enmity in relation to any social group)
Full wording of the charges
According to the investigation, the defendant posted publications in one of the messengers for an unlimited number of people to see, which contained knowingly false information about the actions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation against the civilian population of Ukraine, namely the killings in Bucha and Odessa.
Latest event
April 27, 2026 — appeal
The court upheld the verdict.
Timeline
· Appeal ruling
upheld
· First-instance verdict
guilty verdict · 8 years
· Added to the Rosfinmonitoring list of “terrorists and extremists”
· Preventive measure: arrest in absentia
· Criminal case opened
Ekaterina Kotrikadze's case of "fakes" about the Russian army
· Persecution begins
Ekaterina Kotrikadze's case of failure to fulfil the duties of a "foreign agent"
· Added to the register of “foreign agents”
Criminal case
Ekaterina Kotrikadze's case of "fakes" about the Russian army
- Case number
- 01-0590/2025
Thematic group: Anti-war case; The case of TV Rain employees
Ekaterina Kotrikadze's case of failure to fulfil the duties of a "foreign agent"
Details and sources
Full summary
A journalist and an anchor for the independent television channel TV Rain. In 2022, she fleed Russia after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. On 28 October 2022, the Ministry of Justice included Kotrikadze in the register of "foreign agents". From 2023 to 2025, she was fined three times under administrative protocols for failure to fulfil the duties of a "foreign agent". In July 2025, it became known that cases were brought against her for spreading "fakes" about the Russian army motivated by political hatred and evading the duties of a "foreign agent". The charge of "fakes" is related to certain publications about the Russian army's war crimes against Ukrainian civilians. On 16 February 2026, Kotrikadze was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison on the "fakes" case.
All fields of the record
- Citizenship
- Russia
- Preventive measures
- arrest in absentia
- Persecution episodes
- 2
Other people prosecuted under Article 207.3 part 2 item d, Russian Criminal Code
Under the same article, not necessarily in the same case.