Ukrainian woman sentenced to 12 years in Moscow for spreading war "fakes" – media

Mediazona reported the information.

It noted that Ukrainian Khrystyna Liubashenko moved with her children, mother and grandfather from Kyiv to Switzerland following the start of the full-scale Russian invasion.

There, Khrystyna met her neighbor, Vitaliy Yurchenko, who, according to the lawyer, "posed as a refugee from Ukraine." The outlet reported that the man asked Khrystyna to go to Moscow for money and hold a peaceful rally by launching blue and yellow balloons into the sky.

In May 2023, the Ukrainian woman arrived in Moscow, after which Yurchenko demanded that she put anti-war and the Ukrainian anthem speakers out of her apartment window, and threatened her with children for refusing, the outlet writes. She agreed, and a few days later she also launched white balloons with a white, blue and white flag, after which she was detained.

The lawyer also highlighted that law enforcement officers who detained Liubashenko had prior information about her preparations for the balloon campaign, despite her not disclosing it to anyone.

At first, Khrystyna was held in a temporary detention center, and on June 17, the Second Western District Military Court sentenced 35-year-old Ukrainian woman Khrystyna Liubashenko to 12 years in prison, finding her guilty of allegedly spreading "fakes" about the war and participating in a terrorist organization. 

• On Tuesday, May 28, Russia’s Rostov court "sentenced" a Ukrainian citizen to 10 years in prison for allegedly spying for Ukrainian intelligence.