November 05, 2024

Prison Time for a Charitable Donation


Prison Time for a Charitable Donation
Rostov-on-Don. © Vyacheslav Argenberg via Wikimedia Commons

A bank employee from Rostov-on-Don has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for transferring money for a charitable donation to causes in Ukraine.

Elena Popova was arrested one year ago for treason and petty hooliganism, and was sentenced on October 30 for sending the oppositionist journalist Arkady Babchenko approximately R7,000 ($71) on February 27, 2022, just days after Russia's invasion of Ukraine

"She made a huge number of transfers to various charities to help women, children, animals. Donations in the hundreds of thousands. In this case, the state simply took advantage of her naivete, because certainly in the first days [of the war] many transferred to various bloggers, organizations. As a result, for seven thousand rubles, [she got] 12 years and a fine of 500,000 [rubles, about $5,000]," Popova's cousin told journalists. 

Popova is one of many citizens facing heavy punishments for speaking or acting out in any way against the war. 

You Might Also Like

Prison for a $51 Donation
  • August 13, 2024

Prison for a $51 Donation

A Russian-American citizen faces 15 years in prison for treason over a donation to a Ukrainian charity two years ago. 
The Risk of Treason
  • April 26, 2023

The Risk of Treason

The Russian State Duma has approved Criminal Code amendments that introduce life imprisonment for treason. And not just spies are at risk.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas
October 01, 2013

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.

 
The Latchkey Murders
July 01, 2015

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

Murder at the Dacha
July 01, 2013

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.

Moscow and Muscovites
November 26, 2013

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955