In Russia, 28-year-old Aleksandra Pugach, who moved to Georgia after the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, has been sentenced in absentia to six years in prison. The grounds for her criminal prosecution was her speech at a rally in Georgia in support of Ukraine.
The ruling was handed down by a district court in the city of Kirov. The sentence was announced on May 14 and has already taken effect.
Pugach is banned from administering internet resources for 3.6 years.
Aleksandra Pugach was found guilty under the article on the “dissemination of knowingly false information about the Russian army”—the so-called “army fakes” case.
The criminal case was initiated in January 2026 following her speech at a rally in support of Ukraine in Georgia. According to the Russian authorities, Pugach urged event participants to provide financial assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) and publicly spoke out against the war.
Additionally, Aleksandra Pugach is the daughter of Valentin Pugach, the rector of Vyatka State University. During the 2018 presidential election, he served as an authorized representative (doverennoe litso, a registered campaign surrogate) for Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kirov region.
Following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Aleksandra Pugach left the country and moved to Georgia. According to Russian media reports, she has also stopped communicating with her father.
