The extent of political repressions in Russia

From Novaya Gazeta Europe:

""Can you get eight years in prison in Russia for social media posts about Bucha?" the former president of Estonia questioned

Answer: yes, and there are many such sentences. "Novaya Evropa" [Novaya Gazeta Europe - M. M.] recalls them

November 12, 2025 Natalia Glukhova 

Former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves expressed doubt that anyone could be sent to prison in Russia for posts about Bucha in Ukraine and the actions of the Russian army in that city during the occupation. 

 

 "I doubt anyone got eight years for social media posts about Bucha. But we're used to lies," he wrote in response to a tweet from a Facebook user about two of his acquaintances receiving more than eight years in prison for comments about the occupation of Bucha. 

 

 OVD-Info responded by stating that 13 people had been sentenced to prison terms of eight years or more for media publications, comments, or videos about the war in Ukraine. Six of them were sentenced to prison under the "fake news" article specifically for their comments about Bucha. Another 25 people received such sentences in absentia.

Sergei Davidis, a member of the board of the Memorial Human Rights Center, also compiled a list of people who received prison sentences specifically for social media posts about Bucha. The human rights activist emphasized that this is an incomplete list, as it is not always clear which war crimes were the subject of the prison sentence.

Novaya Evropa recalls who was sentenced to prison terms, and when, for comments and reposts about the Russian army's atrocities in Bucha. 

 

People effectively sentenced to terms of eight years or more

Igor Yakunichev, a resident of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug and YouTube blogger, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in September 2025 for anti-war publications, including several videos about the killings of civilians in the city of Bucha near Kyiv during the Russian occupation. He went on a hunger strike in pretrial detention. 

Dmitry Ivanov, a programmer and author of the popular Telegram channel "Protest MSU," received eight and a half years in a general regime penal colony, including for publications about crimes committed by Russian troops against civilians in Bucha and Mariupol.

Sergei Mikhailov, an Altai journalist and publisher of the newspaper Listok, was sentenced in August 2024 to eight years in prison for allegedly authorizing the publication of materials about Russian military actions in Ukraine, specifically in Bucha and Mariupol. 

Richard Rose, a resident of Kirov, was sentenced in September 2023 to eight years in prison for posts on VKontakte about the massacres of civilians in Bucha. 

Konstantin Seleznev, a Moscow retiree, was sentenced in January 2025 to eight years in prison for posts on VKontakte demanding that those responsible for the massacres in Bucha be brought to justice. 

Olga Menshikh, a nurse and civil activist, received an eight-year prison sentence in October 2024 for a post claiming that during the five-week occupation of Bucha, Russian troops killed dozens of civilians by shooting random passersby in the streets. 

People effectively sentenced to less than eight years in prison 

Igor Orlovsky, a resident of Krasnoyarsk, was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison in November 2023: security forces identified "fakes" in his comments about the attack on the drama theater in Mariupol, Bucha, and the actions of the Russian army in general. 

Roman Ivanov, a journalist from the Moscow region, was sentenced to seven years in a general regime penal colony in March 2024 for three social media posts about the war in Ukraine, one of which discussed the killing of civilians in Bucha. 

Andrey Lugovoy, an IT specialist and activist from Kaliningrad, was sentenced to six years in prison in September 2024 for a post about Bucha. 

Aleksandr Somryakov, a resident of Krasnodar, was sentenced to six years in prison in July 2023 for posts about the shelling of Ukrainian cities and for calling Russian military violence against Ukrainians in Bucha "a mass slaughter of civilians." 

Ruben Pogosyan, a resident of Karelia, was sentenced to six years in a maximum-security prison colony in April 2024 for five reposts, including those about Russian military crimes in Bucha. 

Sergey Nevorotin, a coach from the Tver region, was sentenced to six years in a minimum-security prison colony in December 2023 for, among other things, publishing videos titled "Bucha after the zombie invasion and mercenaries for money 2022." In September 2024, he was released from prison due to health reasons; he died in January 2025 after a long illness. 

Anna Bazhutova, a Moscow resident, was sentenced to five and a half years in prison in June 2024 for quoting the memories of Bucha residents on her Twitch channel. 

Andrei Etkeev, a resident of the Kirov region, was sentenced in November 2023 to five years in a general regime penal colony for reposting media reports on Odnoklassniki about Russian military crimes, including the killing of civilians in Bucha.

Vasily Melnikov, a resident of the Volgograd region, was sentenced to five years in prison in March 2024 for a comment on VKontakte about the killings of civilians in Bucha. 

 

Yuri Kokhovets, a Moscow resident, was sentenced to five years in prison during an appellate court hearing in September 2024 for participating in an interview with Radio Liberty, in which he discussed, among other things, the killings of civilians in Bucha. He was initially sentenced to forced labor. 

 

Alexander Glushkin, a former security guard at School No. 443 in the Frunzensky District of St. Petersburg, was sentenced to five years in prison in September 2025 for reposting about Bucha. 

 

 Dmitry Prozorov, a resident of Kirov and former security officer, was sentenced to five years in a general regime penal colony in February 2025 for comments about Bucha in the "Typical Kirov" community in 2022.

 

Vsevolod Korolev, a documentary filmmaker from St. Petersburg, was sentenced to three years in prison in March 2024 for reporting on mass killings in Bucha, Borodyanka, and the shelling in Donetsk. 

 

Winter Gregory Marcus Severin, a human rights activist from Cherepovets, was sentenced to three years in a general regime penal colony in January 2024 for commenting on the deaths of civilians in Bucha. 

 

Effectively sentenced to prison but later released

Ilya Yashin, a Russian politician, was sentenced to eight and a half years in a general regime penal colony in December 2022 for a livestream about Bucha. He was released on August 1, 2024, as part of an international prisoner exchange..."