Elena Popova

A resident of Rostov-on-Don. She worked at the Central Bank. In September 2023, she was detained and subsequently arrested for 10 days under an administrative charge of petty hooliganism (Article 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenсes). After that she was arrested twice under the same article immediately after being released from the detention center — the first time also for 10 days, the second time for 15 days. At the same time, according to the website of Department One, the protocols stated that she “was loudly swearing” and “twisting her arms” in places located quite far from the detention center. After the third arrest, Popova was charged with high treason for transferring 7,000 rubles on February 27, 2022, to an account published by blogger Arkady Babchenko. Before her detentions, she had already been questioned by the police regarding this transfer. Popova was taken into custody. Later it became known that the case included testimony from a secret witness who had provided a negative reference from her workplace. On October 30, 2024, Popova was sentenced to 12 years in a general-regime penal colony.