On 9 April 2026, Russian state agencies, citing the Federal Security Service (FSB), reported that a journalist had been detained in Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai, on suspicion of treason, according to Radio Svoboda. The journalist’s name was not officially disclosed.
The FSB claimed that the detained man, a Russian citizen born in 1960, had previously worked as a freelance correspondent for Radio Free Europe. He is accused of cooperating with Ukraine’s Security Service and allegedly passing information via Telegram about objects that were later targeted in “computer attacks”.
According to the FSB, the alleged targets included a local print outlet covering Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which Russian authorities refer to as a “special military operation”, as well as a regional critical infrastructure facility. The FSB also reported a search in which equipment and communication devices were allegedly seized.
Radio Svoboda noted that on 1 April, local outlet Chita.ru had reported the detention of a Chita resident on suspicion of treason and searches at the homes of two acquaintances. The outlet did not name the detained person in full, but said its source identified him as “Alexander A.”, who had previously worked for Kasparov.ru and had published in MBKh Media.
The Telegram channel Sibirsky Express reported that the description matched Zabaykalsky journalist Alexander Andreyev. Radio Svoboda reported that freelance correspondent Alexander Andreyev had worked with the outlet in the first half of the 2010s.