Russian anti-war activist on trial for ‘financing terrorism’ hit with fresh treason charges

A Russian anti-war activist who is already on trial in the southwestern Russian city of Belgorod for “financing terrorism” and for making “public calls for action against state security” is facing fresh treason charges, her lawyer Alexey Pryanishnikov wrote on Telegram on Tuesday.

Shortly after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, Nadezhda Rossinskaya, who also goes by the name Nadine Geisler, founded Army of Beauties, an NGO that helped Ukrainian refugees return home from Russia via the last open checkpoint between the two countries in the Belgorod region town of Kolotilovka.

Fearing for her safety, Rossinskaya left Russia for Georgia in 2023, though she decided to return to Belgorod less than a year later to organise a complex evacuation of Ukrainians from the country. She was detained in February on suspicion of having solicited donations to the Armed Forces of Ukraine in social media posts, since when she has remained in police custody, despite complaining of severe headaches, tachycardia and deteriorating vision.

Pryanishnikov said all three charges against Rossinskaya were based on a single Instagram post, which he said had not even been made by Rossinskaya herself, who denies all charges against her. The new treason charge carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

Rossinskaya, who was added to Russia’s register of “extremists and terrorists” in September, said during a court hearing in November that she was “horrified” by the charges against her, which she said only seemed “to discredit” the Russian security services, according to independent news outlet SOTAvision.