Nika Novak’s arrest shows ‘scale of oppression’ Russian journalists face

Nika Novak, a journalist for RFE/RL’s Radio Svoboda Russian Service, is serving a four-year prison sentence in a penal colony in Siberia.

Novak has been in Russian custody since December 25, 2023, when members of Russia’s FSB raided her home in the Siberian city of Chita, and arrested her under Article 275.1 of the law, on accusations of “collaborating with a foreign organization on a confidential basis.”

Nearly a year later, Novak was convicted in a closed-door trial and sentenced to four years in prison.

Novak is the first journalist to be sentenced under Article 275.1 of the Russian penal code. Legal rights experts say that the law is written so broadly that it could be used to prosecute anyone who connects with people outside of Russia.

For a period in early 2025, Novak was held in a solitary cell under “special watch” according to RFE/RL. During that time, she would have been under stricter control and surveillance. Authorities also ordered 500,000 rubles (at the time, $6,000) from the journalist for what they said had been “criminally” earned at RFE/RL.

Russia since 2024 has listed RFE/RL as an undesirable organization.

In May 2025, authorities moved Novak to a penal colony in Irkutsk. The facility is known for its harsh conditions and for beating prisoners and subjecting them to psychological pressure and blackmail. RFE/RL reports that Novak spent five days in solitary confinement there after refusing to deny reports about the poor environment in which she is being held.

Few details of the charges against Novak are known publicly because authorities have declared her case “secret” since the moment of her arrest.

Novak, however, was known for being critical of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and for the Kremlin’s censorship of media. The journalist had previously worked for Siberian outlets including ChitaMedia and Zab. Ru.

The Vienna-based International Press Institute criticized the sentence handed down to Novak, saying her case “serves as a reminder of the scale of oppression that Russian journalists face.”

Last updated February 27, 2026