A criminal case has been opened against Valeria Kichigina (née Fayzullina), editor and journalist of the opposition Russian TV channel Dozhd, for allegedly spreading "fakes" about the Russian army. She previously wrote that "20% of Georgia has been occupied by Russia for 15 years." It's worth noting that this is the first case under this article, and it concerns more than just the war in Ukraine.
The case, being heard by Moscow's Tagansky District Court, includes two counts. First, Kichigina is accused of publishing a story on Instagram about the 2008 Russian-Georgian War, which stated that "20% of Georgia has been occupied by Russia for 15 years." A search for this incident began in Ufa in August 2023, but the journalist was not fully questioned when she left Russia. TV Rain reports that a criminal case was opened in November 2024, and in January 2025, Kichigina's family was searched. Last March, the journalist was arrested in absentia and placed on the wanted list.
The second incident involved reposting journalist Dmitry Kolezev's material about the Ukrainian Bucha.
The reason cited for initiating the criminal case is that Kichigina "undermined the authority and discredited the Russian Armed Forces in society, causing anxiety, fear, worry, and a feeling of insecurity on the part of the state among citizens who viewed the aforementioned publications and videos."
The defendant herself attributes the criminal prosecution to her professional activities.
"After reading the case materials, I have no doubt that it is for my journalistic work and coverage of the Baimak case. If they discovered the story back in 2023, and it has remained on my Instagram ever since, then why didn't they open the case sooner? Why only a year and a half later, and in Ufa specifically? I'm registered in Moscow and haven't lived in Ufa since 2015. The investigator was deliberately looking for anything on me and couldn't find anything better than the war in Georgia," the Dozhd editor shared her findings.
Kichigina's aforementioned report on the "Baimak Case" was published in September 2024. She faces up to 10 years in prison in absentia under the "fake news" charge.
