France – Reporters Without Borders, August 1, 2025
August 1 marks one year since Alsu Kurmasheva was released from a Russian prison. The Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) journalist told Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in an exclusive video interview about life after her unjust detention and how she now fights for the freedom of other imprisoned reporters.
Kurmasheva, who is a dual citizen of both the US and Russia, was freed along with Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich in a prisoner swap between Russia and multiple countries, including the United States and Türkiye.
Kurmasheva normally resides in Prague, where she works for RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir service, but had traveled to Russia because of a family emergency. She was arrested in October 2023 and charged with failing to register as a “foreign agent”. She was accused of spreading “fake news” about the Russian army because she promoted the RFE/RL book “Saying No to War: 40 Stories of Russians who Oppose the Invasion of Ukraine.” She was sentenced on July 19, 2024 to six-and-a-half-years of prison during a secretive trial.
