[Russia] - Russia Sentences Ukrainian Woman to 12 Years for Balloon Protest

INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
"terrorist" group and spreading "fake information" about the Russian Armed Forces, the state TASS news agency reported.Prosecutors said she
was acting on the orders of the anti-Kremlin Freedom of Russia Legion, which is banned in Russia.The Legion, which is composed of Russians
who side with Kyiv and oppose Moscow's military offensive against Ukraine, has launched several armed incursions into Russia.The prosecution
said Lyubashenko released the balloons into the sky above the Russian capital and installed speakers at a window in a residential building
that blasted out "fake information" on Moscow's Ukraine offensive.Independent Russian news site Mediazona quoted Lyubashenko's lawyer as
had been given refugee status there.She had been living in Switzerland with her sick mother, elderly grandfather and two daughters, and had
run into financial difficulties, Mediazona quoted lawyer Lyudmila Posmitnaya as saying.In Switzerland, she met a man who presented himself
as a fellow Ukrainian refugee, who lent her money before asking her to go to Moscow, Posmitnaya reportedly said.The man had initially told
her to release yellow and blue balloons, in the colors of the Ukrainian flag.Lyubashenko had refused at first to install the speakers but
the man became threatening and said she would lose custody of her daughters, according to the lawyer.Mediazona said Lyubashenko told the
court in Ukrainian: "I think you all understand how this case came about."Since the start of the military offensive, Russia has massively
cracked down on dissent and handed down harsh sentences to people convicted of acts of sabotage inside the country.It has also banned
publicly sympathizing with Ukraine.