The imposed sentence fully coincided with the prosecutor's request, the term of punishment is calculated from the moment of detention — February 28, 2024, writes ERR.
The court found that Svetlana Burtseva had been cooperating for several years with the Russian state agency RIA "Russia Today", headed by Dmitry Kiselev, who is under EU sanctions. As part of the cooperation, Burtseva wrote articles and provided photo materials for the publications Baltnews and RIA, thereby "providing the sanctioned entity access to economic resources", which is prohibited by the EU Council regulation of March 17, 2014.
Also, according to the investigation, the propagandist maintained contacts with Roman Romachev — a reserve officer of the FSB and head of the private intelligence company R-Techno, which conducts information-psychological operations in the interests of the Russian Federation. As part of this cooperation, the book "Hybrid War for Peace" was written and published, which the court recognized as propaganda aimed at undermining trust in the Estonian authorities and destabilizing society.
When passing the sentence, the court considered that the violation of sanctions lasted several years and was committed intentionally. "Treason" Burtseva, according to the court, also committed intentionally, but the impact of her actions was limited. Considering that this is her first criminal offense and the act is limited to one book, the court found the prosecutor's requested punishment — six years of imprisonment — to be fair.
Previously, Burtseva, who obtained Estonian citizenship in 1994 through naturalization, worked as a journalist for the online publication Sputnik Eesti, which ceased operations in Estonia in 2019 due to sanctions. Since 2023, she has been a member of the party Koos, one of whose leaders, Aivo Peterson, is on trial for treason.
Photo: ERR