Basmanny Court Sentences Yuri Dud in Absentia Under Foreign Agent Law

A Moscow court has handed down a prison sentence in absentia for violating foreign agent requirements, Orda.kz reports.

The Basmanny Court stated that Yuri Dud’s sentence will begin once he is extradited to Russia or detained inside the country. He is to serve his term in a general-regime penal colony.

According to Mediazona, the criminal case stems from earlier fines issued for posts published without the mandatory foreign agent label, as well as three additional posts made in May 2025.

This marks the first prison sentence under this article. Prosecutors had requested the same punishment, arguing that the offense was “motivated by political hatred” and asking the court to treat this as an aggravating factor.

Dud’s lawyer called for the case to be dismissed as insignificant, noting that the posts in question concerned everyday topics and could not reasonably be interpreted as political hatred.

Yuri Dud, a journalist and blogger, rose to prominence through his YouTube channel “vDud,” which has over 10 million subscribers. He was designated a foreign agent in 2022 and subsequently left Russia.

In July, the Basmanny Court already ordered his arrest in absentia for failing to comply with foreign agent legislation.

Earlier, we reported that Russian political scientist and former Maqsut Narikbayev University associate professor Ekaterina Shulman — also labeled a foreign agent — was added to the Rosfinmonitoring list of terrorists and extremists.

Original Author: Oksana Matvienko