Anna Bazikalo is turning 40 on 31 March 2026 having spent the last three years in Russian captivity. The pharmacist from Markivka raion in Luhansk oblast was abducted by the Russian invaders in, or before, September 2023. She was sentenced in April 2025 to 16 years’ imprisonment for supposed ‘spying’, the default charge used against a huge number of the civilians seized from occupied territory even before Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Markivka raion came under Russian occupation in early 2022, with the invaders swiftly imposing conditions that have made it near impossible to not take Russian citizenship. Anna Bazikalo was ‘tried’ as a citizen of Ukraine, so clearly had not obtained a Russian passport.
Next to nothing more is known about Anna Bazikalo aside from the claims made by the Russian occupation ‘Luhansk people republic high court’ and ‘prosecutor’ on 11 April 2025. A panel of ‘judges’ from the occupation ‘court’ had found Bazikalo (identified only as ‘B’) of ‘spying’ under Article 276 of Russia’s criminal code, and of ‘illegally purchasing and storing explosive substances’ under Article 222.1 § 1. In March and September 2023, she had, purportedly, “voluntarily gathered information about the places of deployment of Russian soldiers on the territory of the Luhansk people’s republic’ and had passed this on, via an Internet messenger, to Ukraine’s Security Service. She was also supposed to have “purchased” an explosive substance. Since this was supposedly “of throwing action”, it may have merely been ingredients for a petrol bomb.
The ‘spying’ charge is essentially that copy-pasted from one indictment to another, with the fact that two separate occasions are mentioned possibly meaning that the Russians found two photos on Bazikalo’s phone. The ‘explosive substance’ charge is less standard however no attempt was made to turn this into a planned ‘act of sabotage’. All of these alleged ‘trials’ are behind closed doors, with no information even as to whether Bazikalo had a chosen lawyer; how many ‘hearings’ there were; or what she pleaded. She had clearly been held in custody for well over 18 months when this ‘trial’, which may well have consisted of a one-day announcement of sentence, took place, and there are no grounds for hoping that this even remotely observed her fundamental right to a fair trial. Even under such circumstances, the sentence – 16 years in a medium-security prison colony (the harshest for women) and a 30 thousand rouble fine – seems exceptionally savage.
There has been no mention of an appeal. Although the outcome of such appeals is essentially as predetermined as the original sentence, an appeal would at least suggest that Anna Bazikalo had a lawyer and, through him or her, some chance of passing on information to or from Anna’s family.
Nadiya Pliekhova (b. 12.08.1982)
On 4 June 2025, the occupation ‘Kherson regional court’ sentenced Nadiya Pliekhov to 12 years’ imprisonment; a further one year of restricted liberty and a 100 thousand rouble fine. She was charged with both ‘spying’, under Article 276, and with ‘treason’, under Article 275 of the same Russian criminal code. The two charges do not point to any real difference in the alleged ‘crime’, with the addition of ‘treason’ merely because Pliekhova had received a Russian passport in the spring of 2023.
The Memorial Support for Political Prisoners Project reports that the appeal against that sentence is still awaited. Memorial has placed both Nadiya Pliekhova and Anna Bazikalo on its list of other victims of political persecution (where there is not enough information to declare a person a political prisoner, but where the political motives for their persecution seem clear).
See also:
Darya Pavlova
Russian invaders abduct young Ukrainian, sentence her to 12. 5 years for helping Ukraine
Olena Nishanova
Oksana Hladkykh
Yulia Koveshnikova
