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May 10, 2025 – Russia –
In May 2025, Russian journalist Ekaterina Barabash made headlines after executing a daring escape from house arrest in Moscow, reemerging in Paris with the assistance of Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Barabash, a 64-year-old film critic and former contributor to Radio France Internationale and the independent outlet Republic, faced a potential 10-year prison sentence for social media posts condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Her Facebook posts between 2022 and 2023 criticized the devastation caused by the war, including civilian deaths and the destruction of cities.
Detained in February 2025 upon returning from the Berlinale film festival, Barabash was charged with spreading “false information” about the Russian military and labeled a “foreign agent.” Placed under house arrest, she dismantled her electronic monitoring tag on April 21 and embarked on a perilous 2,800-kilometer journey through clandestine routes, coordinated by RSF. The organization described her escape as one of the most dangerous operations they’ve undertaken since Russia’s stringent media laws were enacted in March 2022.
Barabash arrived in France on April 26, her birthday, after weeks in hiding. She expressed profound sorrow over leaving her 96-year-old mother behind, acknowledging they might never reunite. Her son and grandson remain in Kyiv, Ukraine, whom she hasn’t seen since the war’s onset due to her Russian passport.
At an RSF press conference in Paris, Barabash denounced the suppression of free speech in Russia, stating, “There is no culture in Russia… there is no politics… It’s only war.” She emphasized that journalism cannot survive under totalitarian regimes and described Russian prisons as “worse than death.”
Now in France, Barabash plans to seek asylum and continue her work with exiled Russian-language media. Her escape underscores the broader crackdown on dissent in Russia post-Ukraine invasion, with over 1,200 individuals charged for anti-war positions and at least 38 journalists currently imprisoned.
