In Russia, a producer was sentenced to prison for inciting terrorism

The First Western District Military Court in St. Petersburg sentenced television producer Kapitolina Averina to six and a half years in a general-regime penal colony. She was accused of inciting terrorism. This was reported by “Sever.Realii,” citing its own sources.

Averina’s sentence was handed down on October 15. According to the court case file, she was charged with three counts of inciting terrorism.

According to media reports, the criminal case against the producer was initiated due to her statements in Telegram channel chat rooms. Specifically, she called for “bombing Moscow.”

Averina’s acquaintances told the publication that she posted these comments following the death of her common-law husband, Yuriy Stratiy. He served in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and was killed in May 2023 near the village of Robotine in the Zaporizhzhia region.

The producer was detained on February 5, 2026, in Ivangorod. According to “Sever.Realii,” she had traveled there to visit her 71-year-old mother, who was ill.

On February 13, Averina was added to Rosfinmonitoring’s list of “terrorists and extremists.”

The case was investigated by the Kaluga Regional Directorate of the Federal Security Service of Russia. After her arrest, the producer was taken to Pretrial Detention Center No. 1 in Kaluga.

Prior to her arrest, Kapolina Averina worked in entertainment content production. She participated in the creation of Lolita Milyavskaya’s show “Without Complexes” on Channel One and “Pregnant Through Deception” on the “Yu” TV channel.

Averina was also the producer of the project “The Chapman Secrets” on Ren TV and participated in the filming of movies for the Russian Ministry of Defense’s Zvezda TV channel.

According to people who know the producer, her work on state-run TV channels did not prevent her from holding opposition views.

After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Averina closed her social media accounts but continued to post anti-war messages.

Earlier, in the temporarily occupied territory of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, a Russian occupation court sentenced a local school employee to 13 years in a strict-regime penal colony. The man was accused of spying for Ukraine.

An occupation court in the Zaporizhzhia region sentenced a resident of Melitopol to 14 years in a maximum-security prison on charges of treason. The criminal prosecution was triggered by a transfer of 500 hryvnias to an account linked to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.