By Heraldviews
Ekaterina Barabash, a Russian journalist facing up to ten years in prison for criticising Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, has escaped to France with the help of Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The 64-year-old film critic, who was under house arrest in Russia,
described her two-and-a-half-week flight as “difficult” and admitted she had
considered suicide rather than endure imprisonment. “Russian prison is worse
than death,” she told AFP in Paris.
Ms Barabash was detained in
February after attending the Berlinale film festival, accused of spreading “false
information” about Russia’s armed forces in social-media posts. One such post
condemned the bombing of Ukrainian cities, while another expressed “hatred for
those who started all this.” After removing her electronic monitoring
bracelet—now abandoned “somewhere in the Russian forest”—she crossed the border
on her birthday, April 26th. RSF, which previously aided the escape of protest
journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, called her ordeal a “message of hope” for other
dissident reporters.
The Kremlin has intensified its
crackdown on press freedom since invading Ukraine, criminalising criticism of
the war. Ms Barabash, whose son lives in Ukraine and whose 96-year-old mother
remains in Moscow, plans to seek asylum in France and resume work with Radio
France Internationale. RSF’s director acknowledged the increasing difficulty of
such operations but stressed: “There is no despair, no inevitability.” For now,
Ms Barabash remains under French protection—and determined to rebuild her life.
“I don’t know anyone who has died of starvation in exile,” she said.
With additional AFP report
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