On 4 July 2026 Ariadna Litvinova was remanded in custody on a charge of ‘repeatedly discrediting the armed forces of the Russian Federation.’ If convicted, she faces up to seven years’ imprisonment.
Memorial reports that Ariadna Litvinova was in her final year of studies at a police college in Moscow. Outraged by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, she left the college in protest. On 24 February 2025, the anniversary of the invasion, Litvinova staged an anti-war protest in St. Petersburg. During the night, she went to the outdoor photo exhibition Together Towards Victory and spray-painted ten display panels with the slogans ‘Murderers’, ‘Peace to Ukraine’, and ‘Freedom for Prisoners’.
Later that day, she was detained by officers from the Centre for Combating Extremism. The following day, she was fined 50,000 roubles for the administrative-law offence of ‘discrediting’ the Russian army. She was later remanded in custody on charges of vandalism motivated by political hatred (Article 214, Part 2, of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). As Memorial reports, a few weeks later, she was released from custody pending her trial. During the summer she managed to leave for Turkey, where her father lived. Russian authorities then placed Litvinova on a wanted list and reclassified her case under the more serious charge of ‘repeatedly discrediting the armed forces of the Russian Federation’ (Article 280.3, Part 2, of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). On 4 July 2026, Litvinova was deported to Russia from Turkey. She is currently held on remand in St. Petersburg and faces up to seven years’ imprisonment if convicted.
Memorial has recognised Ariadna Litvinova as a political prisoner.
‘The offence of “discrediting” the Russian armed forces is inherently unlawful, and any prosecution under it is therefore illegal and politically motivated. Moreover, Litvinova had already been fined under the Code of Administrative Offences for the same inscriptions. Subjecting her to criminal prosecution for the same act constitutes a serious violation of fundamental legal principles. Ariadna Litvinova’s actions were an act of protest against Russia’s aggressive war against independent Ukraine. They deserve public recognition, not criminal prosecution..’
– Memorial, 15 July 2026
Write to Ariadna Litvinova
The Russian penal system does not allow any messages to prisoners that are written in foreign languages, but Write to Russia is here to help you. To show your support for Ariadna Litvinova please send your letter as an email to us at: le******************@********il.com. We’ll translate your letter into Russian and, depending on your request, either mail the translated letters on your behalf to Ariadna Litvinova, or return the letters to you by email for posting in an envelope with addresses written in Russian. If we send the letter on your behalf, we ask that you compensate us for the cost of postage from the UK (currently £3.60 [$4.89; €4.17] for one letter). For suggestions on what to write to a political prisoner, click here. To learn more about our letter writing project, click here: Write to Russia.
You can write to Ariadna Litvinova at the following address:
Russian Federation – 195009, г. Санкт-Петербург, ул. Арсенальная, д. 11, ФКУ СИЗО-5 ГУФСИН России по г. Санкт-Петербургу и Ленинградской области, Литвиновой Ариадне Валерьевне, 2001 г. р.
The persons unjustly imprisoned in Russia whose plight our project Write to Russia has highlighted to date can be found at this link:
