Freelance Russian journalist Svetlana Khustik was detained on September 29, 2025, on charges of spreading “fake” news about the Russian army. On September 30, a court in the east-central city of Krasnoyarsk placed Khustik in pre-trial detention, pending investigation.
She faced up to 10 years in jail under Part 2, Article 207.3 of the criminal code.
On June 30, 2026, a court in Krasnoyarsk sentenced her to 18 months of forced labor on the charge of spreading “fake news” about the Russian military, her lawyer told independent news outlet Mediazona. The court ruled that Khustik had already served the sentence and she was released in the courtroom.
The Krasnoyarsk Prosecutor’s Office has filed an appeal against the sentence, according to the Central District Court’s case record. The appeal was accepted for consideration on July 16, 2026.
According to human rights news website OVD-Info, Khustik´s case stemmed from an interview with artist Leonid Tishkov about his exhibition, “In My Father’s Field,” published by U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s regional project, Sibir.Realii, on May 21, 2023.
OVD-Info quoted investigators as saying the interview contained "deliberately false information about the actions" of the Russian army, masquerading as reliable information.
In court in September 2025, Khustik said she stopped working with RFE/RL at the end of 2023, before Russia’s Justice Ministry designated the organization as “undesirable” in 2024. Russia’s Ministry of Justice added RFE/RL to its foreign agents register in 2017.
In October 2025, Russian financial monitoring agency Rosfinmonitoring added Khustik to its list of “extremists and terrorists.” In November 2025, Khustik’s father died of leukemia. Her lawyers had asked the court to transfer Khustik to house arrest so she could care for her father, but the request was denied.
Khustik has said she did not publish any fake news and did not have the technical capability to edit the material after it was published, according to the Siberian regional news website NGS24.RU.
In the years before her detention, Khustik covered the environment, culture, and social issues for a range of outlets, including independent news websites Takie Dela and Kedr.
CPJ did not receive a response to its September 2025 request for comment sent via email to the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia for Krasnoyarsk Krai and the Republic of Khakassia. CPJ also emailed the Krasnoyarsk Prosecutor’s Office in August 2026, but did not immediately receive a reply.