December 17, 2025

Convicted for Automatic Payments


Convicted for Automatic Payments
A prison cell. The Russian Life files.

On December 12, Russian courts sentenced two women in Ukraine's partially occupied Zaporizhzhia region to 12.5 and 15 years in prison, respectively, for transferring money to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The women were convicted of treason.

In March 2023, the now-65-year-old Irina Sukhovey, of Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia, was scrolling through pro-Ukrainian Telegram channels when she saw ads for donations to the Ukrainian army. She set up automatic payments from her bank's app to donate to the armed forces of her country. That same month, Russia occupied her city.

In November 2023, Sukhovey was forced to become a Russian citizen. She began receiving a pension from the Russian government into her Ukrainian bank account. According to prosecutors, the woman was aware that her bank account continued to transfer money to the Ukrainian Armed Forces automatically. A Russian court said the payments continued until November 2024. During the trial, prosecutors pointed out that Sukhovey did not support the occupation of her region by Russian forces. On December 12, the woman was sentenced to 15 years in prison, according to Mediazona.

On the same day Sukhovey was sentenced, the press service of the prosecutor's office of the illegally annexed Crimea confirmed another woman from Melitopol was also convicted of treason. A 55-year-old was sentenced to 12 and a half years for transferring R1400 ($17) to the Ukrainian Army.

The two women are not the only Zaporizhzhians in prison for making payments to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. On December 5, 61-year-old Marina Belusova, a Primorsk resident and Russian citizen, was sentenced to 12 years and 6 months in prison for treason. The FSB found transfers from Belusova's Ukrainian bank account to the Ukrainian Army. The retiree expressed regret for the donations.

You Might Also Like

Research under Surveillance
  • December 08, 2025

Research under Surveillance

Starting next year, Russian scientists must request FSB approval before working with foreign colleagues.
Game Over for Roblox?
  • December 11, 2025

Game Over for Roblox?

Russia has banned Roblox, one of the most popular video games in the world. In turn, Russians protested on social media.
Dial-a-Putin
  • December 07, 2025

Dial-a-Putin

Russian citizens are invited to submit questions for 2025's "Direct Line with Vladimir Putin" television program.
Pigeon-Drones are Here
  • December 04, 2025

Pigeon-Drones are Here

A Russian company introduced biodrones: pigeons with chip implants in their brains and surveillance cameras.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

The Latchkey Murders
July 01, 2015

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...

Faith & Humor
December 01, 2011

Faith & Humor

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

Fearful Majesty
July 01, 2014

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.

A Taste of Chekhov
December 24, 2022

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

Murder and the Muse
December 12, 2016

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas
October 01, 2013

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.

 

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955