A former correspondent for the American state-funded media organisation Radio Free Europe has been arrested on suspicion of treason in Russia's Far Eastern Zabaykalsky region, according to a statement from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) published Thursday.
The FSB claims the man joined a Telegram group controlled by the Security Service of Ukraine “with the goal of assisting the Ukrainian side”. There, he allegedly passed information to Ukrainian operatives about “the resources of a local publication specialising in covering the special military operation”, as well as about local infrastructure facilities.
The agency alleges that Ukraine used the information to “conduct cyber attacks on the specified facilities”. The man is now being held in pre-trial detention, and if found guilty of treason will face a life sentence.
The FSB did not identify the man, but said that he was born in 1960, resided in Zabaykalsky's regional capital, Chita, and previously worked as a freelance foreign correspondent for Radio Free Europe. The independent news outlet 7x7 reported on Thursday that the FSB statement likely refers to journalist Alexander Andreyev, 65, who was arrested in Chita on 1 April.
According to local newspaper Chita.ru, Andreyev briefly headed the local branch of the pro-EU opposition party Western Choice, before it was dissolved by the Russian government in 2014. He had also written for opposition news outlet Kasparov.ru, founded by chess grandmaster and liberal political activist Garry Kasparov, as well as for exiled businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s now-defunct MBKh Media.
Radio Free Europe has been designated as an “undesirable organisation” in Russia since 2024, meaning that its activities in Russia are banned. Russians who participate in its activities can face up to four years in prison.
Russia has imprisoned several journalists with connections to Radio Free Europe in recent years, including Alsu Kurmasheva, who was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison in 2024 for “spreading fake news” about the Russian military, before being released in a prisoner exchange with the US later that year.
