Security forces conducted a series of searches in Moscow on the morning of March 12, as part of a criminal case against Sota journalists Pyotr Ivanov and Ruslan Terekhov, according to the Word for Defense project.
According to him, photographer Yulia Morozova searched (for him) books “OVD-Info”) was associated with this criminal case.
Security forces also found activists who knew Ruslan Terekhov before his emigration in 2022. Searches were initiated by the FSB Directorate in the Kursk region, Slovo Zashcheta claims.
A criminal case was opened against Pyotr Ivanov and Ruslan Terekhov in 2025. Sota journalists were charged with illegal crossing of the Russian border (Article 322 of the Criminal Code) because in August 2024 they traveled to Sodzha, Kursk region, when the city was under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The condemnation of the journalists was written by State Duma deputy Oleg Matveychev, who wrote a “word of defense.”
The Sota editorial office stated that Pyotr Ivanov, Ruslan Terekhov and a third employee of the newspaper, whose name was not revealed, were the only Russian journalists who visited the Kursk region during the operation of the Ukrainian armed forces in the region. Meanwhile, during the trip to Sodja, journalists did not cover military actions, but “talked about the lives of civilians abandoned by Russia,” Sota noted.
The publication of Sota is financed by businessman Leonid Nevzlin. Sota editor-in-chief Alexei Obukhov confirmed this fact to Meduza, although he clarified that this is not the only source of funding. Obukhov also claimed that the work of the editorial board “is under the control of the editorial board.” Sota has repeatedly published compromising information about the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). The foundation claims that Nevzlin ordered the attack on Leonid Volkov in the spring of 2024.