An Estonian court on Wednesday sentenced a journalist with past ties to Russian state media to six years in prison for treason.
The Harju County District Court found that Svetlana Burceva had collaborated with a reserve officer from Russia’s FSB security service in actions that threatened Estonia’s “independence and sovereignty.”
“The sentence was six years in prison,” the court said in a statement. Burceva, referred to as Burtseva in Russian media, has 30 days to appeal.
According to the court, Burceva and FSB reserve officer Roman Romachev planned to publish materials aimed at advancing Russian foreign and security policy interests. A book they co-authored on hybrid warfare was described by the court as “a propagandist work that lacks the hallmarks of independent analysis.”
Burceva, who obtained Estonian citizenship in 1994, had worked with Estonian websites affiliated with Russia’s Rossiya Segodnya media group since 2017.
She was arrested on Feb. 28, 2024, and the Estonia court said Wednesday that the time she has spent in detention would count toward her sentence.
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