The Central District Military Court in Yekaterinburg sentenced 48-year-old resident of Yoshkar-Ola, Vera Sidorkina, to 18 years in a general regime penal colony on charges of 'treason' and attempting to join the 'Freedom of Russia' Legion, reported 'Mediazona'**. She was also given one year of restricted freedom.
Sidorkina is raising a daughter born in 2014 alone, it is unknown with whom the girl stayed after her mother's arrest.
The woman was detained on April 24, 2024, but the official announcement of the detention appeared only in October last year. The FSB reported that she was transferring information about 'defense-industrial complex objects' in the Republic of Mari El to 'Ukrainian terrorists'.
In addition, she is accused of planning to travel to Ukraine and join the 'Freedom of Russia' Legion. At the same time, the republican prosecutor's office noted that the woman was planning to illegally cross the border with her child.
According to the prosecution, in 2023, Sidorkina contacted representatives of the 'Freedom of Russia' Legion and filled out a form to join the unit as a medic or household worker. She also 'proactively offered cooperation to a representative of the Ukrainian intelligence service' and in April 2024 sent him satellite images with coordinates of 'defense-industrial complex enterprises and objects of the Russian Ministry of Defense', after which she was detained.
At the same time, as the prosecutor's office claims, Sidorkina attempted to leave in August 2023 'using measures of secrecy'.
As 'Mediazona' found out, Sidorkina worked at the 'Almaz-Antey' anti-missile and anti-aircraft defense weapons manufacturing concern as a driver until 2019. After that, she got a job as a saleswoman in a flower shop.
As calculated by 'Sever.Realii'***, the number of women convicted under the article on treason has increased 3.5 times over two years.
In the year the war started, no sentences were handed down to women in treason cases, but 16 men were convicted. In 2023, two women and 37 men were sentenced, in 2024 - seven women and 138 men. In 2025, Sever.Realii found at least 10 sentences handed down to women.
The number of espionage cases against women is also growing, but slightly: from 2020 to 2024, four women were convicted, two of them in 2024. During the same period, 36 men were sentenced for espionage.
* Recognized as a 'terrorist' organization in Russia.
** Recognized as a 'foreign agent' in Russia.
*** Recognized as a 'foreign agent' and 'undesirable' organization in Russia.