Russian Journalist Flees to France to Escape Imprisonment for Telling the Truth
Paris In a grim testament to the dangers faced by dissenting voices in Vladimir Putin’s Russia, 64-year-old journalist Ekaterina Barabash has escaped to France, narrowly avoiding a decade-long prison sentence for daring to speak out against Moscow’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.
Barabash, a seasoned journalist known for her fearless reporting, was arrested earlier this year for allegedly spreading “false information” about the Russian military. Her true crime? Telling the truth about the horrors unfolding in Ukraine a truth that the Kremlin is determined to silence.
“I even considered ending my life,” she told reporters at the Paris headquarters of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the global press freedom organization that orchestrated her daring escape. “Russian prison is worse than death.”
The Cost of Truth in Putin’s Russia
Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, the Russian government has declared war not just on Ukraine, but on truth itself. Independent journalism has been systematically dismantled. Laws criminalizing criticism of the military have become instruments of terror. Arrests, censorship, and exile are now routine for those who refuse to repeat Kremlin propaganda.
Barabash, like many other independent Russian voices, was targeted for her refusal to remain silent. Her Facebook posts, which condemned Russia’s destruction of Ukrainian cities and lamented the human toll of the war, made her a marked woman.
Shortly after attending the Berlinale film festival, she was arrested and placed under house arrest, facing up to 10 years in prison. In April, she made the decision to flee alone and unaided, crossing borders, dodging surveillance, and hiding in forests. “I removed my electronic bracelet. It’s probably somewhere in the Russian forest now,” she said with a wry smile.
She crossed the border on April 26 her birthday.
A Desperate Journey, A Courageous Stand
Barabash’s escape, which took two-and-a-half harrowing weeks, was a logistical feat involving numerous unnamed allies. Among them was Leonid Nevzlin, a prominent critic of the Kremlin and ally of exiled oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who helped finance her evacuation.
RSF’s director Thibaut Bruttin described the operation as perilous and often uncertain. “There were moments we believed she had been arrested. Once, we feared she was dead,” he said. “Helping journalists escape Russia has become significantly more dangerous.”
Barabash is now seeking political asylum in France, where she hopes to continue working with Radio France Internationale (RFI), one of the few media outlets still giving a voice to the exiled Russian press.
Her 96-year-old mother remains in Moscow. Her only son lives in Ukraine.
A Symbol of Resistance in the Face of Tyranny
Barabash’s story is not just one of escape it’s a story of resistance. In a climate of fear and repression, she refused to bow to authoritarian demands. Her defiance stands in stark contrast to a regime that has chosen lies over lives, and silence over scrutiny.
Her Facebook posts from 2022—now considered criminal in Russia—were a raw, unfiltered cry against the war: “So many lives destroyed, so many families torn apart,” she wrote. “Hatred, hatred, hatred for those who started all this.”
These are not the words of a criminal. They are the words of a journalist, a mother, and a human being confronting the devastating consequences of unjust war.
Journalism on the Frontline
Barabash is not alone. She follows in the footsteps of Marina Ovsyannikova, another Russian journalist helped by RSF to flee the country after famously protesting live on state television. The fact that press freedom organizations must now coordinate escape routes for journalists is a damning indictment of Putin’s Russia.
And yet, in the face of oppression, journalists like Barabash continue to speak. As RSF’s Bruttin put it, “There is no inevitability, no despair. RSF stands with all those who embody independent journalism.”
“I Will Start Again”
Barabash now faces the immense challenge of rebuilding her life from scratch in exile. Yet her spirit remains unbroken.
“I don’t know a single person who died of starvation in exile,” she said.
Her words are a reminder that while tyrants may threaten and imprison, the truth always finds a way outand those who carry it are never truly alone.
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Russian Journalist Flees to France to Escape Imprisonment for Telling the Truth