Yulia Koveshnikova
Yulia Koveshnikova, born 1978, Occupied territory of Zaporizka oblast. Charges: Article 276, Russian Criminal Code (Transferring, collecting, stealing, or storing information classified as state secret with the…); “Yulia Koveshnikova's Case of espionage”. Sentence (June 10, 2024): 13 years' imprisonment in a general regime colony. Status: imprisoned; place of detention: Penal colony No. 15, Samara Oblast. Recognition: Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners — recognised as a political prisoner, April 7, 2025.
In brief
Sentence
13 years
imprisonment in a general regime colony
No information about an appeal ruling.
Charges
- Article 276, Russian Criminal Code — Transferring, collecting, stealing, or storing information classified as state secret with the intent to transfer to a foreign state, organization, or their representatives.
Full wording of the charges
According to the investigation, from June 2022 to January 2023, she collected and transmitted to her partner, who was serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, information about the location of personnel, equipment and weapons of units of the provisional administration of the Russian Interior Ministry in Zaporizhzhya region. The information given by her could be used by the AFU to launch fire attacks on the locations of law enforcement agencies.
Latest event
April 7, 2025 — recognised as a political prisoner
Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners
Recognition by rights defenders
- Recognised as a political prisoner — Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners, April 7, 2025
Timeline
· Recognised as a political prisoner
Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners
· First-instance verdict
guilty verdict · 13 years
· Persecution begins
Yulia Koveshnikova's Case of espionage
Criminal case
Yulia Koveshnikova's Case of espionage
Write a letter
Facility: Penal colony No. 15, Samara Oblast
Address (in Russian, as written on the envelope)
443047, Самарская обл., г. Самара, ул. Утевская,18 «А», ФКУ «ИК № 15 УФСИН России по Самарской области», Ковешникова Юлия Александровна, 1978 г.р.
Details and sources
Full summary
Ukrainian citizen, wife of a military officer. On 8 April 2023, she was kidnapped in Melitopol (occupied part of the territory of Zaporizhzhya region). A case of espionage was brought against her. Initially she was kept in a temporary detention centre in Melitopol; according to her, she was kept in a pit and forced to learn by heart the anthems of the Russian Federation, the self-proclaimed DNR and LNR, the USSR, as well as a certain "new" anthem of Ukraine. In her letters, Koveshnikova said that she was starved, thirsty and kept in darkness for a long time. She was later transferred to a pre-trial detention centre in Mariupol (an occupied part of Ukraine's Donetsk region) and then to a pre-trial detention centre in Simferopol. On 11 June 2024, Koveshnikova was sentenced to 13 years in a general regime colony on charges of espionage.
All fields of the record
- Citizenship
- Ukraine
Other people prosecuted under Article 276, Russian Criminal Code
Under the same article, not necessarily in the same case.