A Russian court ordered film critic and Republic contributor Yekaterina Barabash to be placed under house arrest on Wednesday after she was arrested and charged with spreading “deliberately false information” about the Russian armed forces.
Barabash returned to Russia on Sunday after attending the Berlinale film festival and was questioned at the border, according to the independent news outlet Sota, which cited a Republic employee.
“She flew to Moscow on Sunday after Berlinale and spent three hours at border control — something that had happened after each of her border crossings in recent months. But by Tuesday, Yekaterina was already under arrest,” the unnamed employee was quoted as saying.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, confirmed her arrest on Wednesday. It added that charges were pressed against Barabash, who was said to have “admitted guilt in full” during questioning.
Later on Wednesday, Judge Evgeniya Gorokhova ruled to place Barabash under house arrest until April 25, as requested by police investigators, the exiled news outlet Mediazona reported.
On the day of her arrest, Republic published an article by Barabash about Russian director Konstantin Bogomolov, who is reportedly considering staging a play about President Vladimir Putin’s “victories.”
In the article, Barabash described Bogomolov — husband of Russian media personality Ksenia Sobchak — as one of the Russian creative community’s most skilled “flip-floppers,” saying he had moved “from the ranks of the opposition to the pro-government camp in small but quick steps.”
Barabash, the daughter of Soviet and Russian literary critic Yuri Barabash, has worked for multiple Russian media outlets, including Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Forbes and Interfax. In 2016, she said she was fired from Interfax for criticizing the authorities.
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