Vasilina Orlova

Vasilina Alexandrovna Orlova is a Russian writer, publicist, social anthropologist and former journalist. She was born on October 11, 1979, in the settlement of Dunay in Russia’s Primorsky region and grew up in Moscow. She graduated from the philosophy faculty of Moscow State University and worked at various times as a television correspondent, an editor at Pravoslavie.ru and a religion columnist for Moskovskiye Novosti. She later moved to the United States and continued her academic and literary work.

Her criminal case became public in August 2026, when Russia’s Interior Ministry added her to its wanted database.

According to Mediazona, investigators based the case on two VKontakte posts. One discussed alleged use of cluster munitions against civilians in Odesa; the other concerned the killings of civilians in Bucha. Russian investigators characterize those statements as knowingly false information about the Russian armed forces.

Orlova is charged under paragraph “d” of Part 2 of Article 207.3 of the Russian Criminal Code, which adds an alleged political, ideological or other hate motive to the offence.

On August 28, 2026, a Russian court ordered her detention in absentia for two months. She remains outside Russia and therefore is not physically in custody.

Orlova herself subsequently discussed the prosecution in an updated professional CV published in September 2026.