Temirtau Native Sentenced to 22 Years in Russia

Nadezhda Rossinskaya, a native of Temirtau and founder of the volunteer movement “Army of Beauties,” has been sentenced to 22 years in prison in Russia, Orda.kz reports, citing RBK.

Better known as blogger and activist Nadine Geisler, Rossinskaya was convicted by the Second Western District Military Court on charges of treason and making public calls against the security of the Russian Federation.

The FSB claims she posted a fundraising appeal on Instagram in August 2023, calling for donations to the Azov Battalion and sharing her bank details. Azov is labeled as a terrorist organization by Russian authorities. 

Rossinskaya, however, maintained that her organization provided humanitarian assistance to residents of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region — delivering food, medicine, and animal supplies, and helping evacuate civilians to Russia and Europe.

She was detained in February 2024 while traveling by train in Russia. According to reports, she had returned from Georgia, where she had lived for about a year, with plans to assist animals in the conflict zone.

In October 2024, Rossinskaya was added to Russia’s official list of terrorists and extremists.

Her lawyer, Alexey Pryanishnikov, stated that three criminal cases were brought against her — for financing terrorism, public incitement, and treason — but that all were based on the same social media post allegedly published from another person’s account.

Original Author: Ruslan Loginov