San Francisco Frontiers - Russian reporter critical of Ukraine war escapes to France

Speaking in an interview with AFP at the media watchdog's headquarters in Paris, Ekaterina Barabash, 64, said she even considered suicide to avoid going to prison.

"I began looking for some poison," said Barabash, who faces up to 10 years in prison for criticising Moscow's army.

"Russian prison, it's not a life. It is worse than death."

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow has launched an unprecedented crackdown on media freedoms, making it illegal to criticise the army and its war against Ukraine.

Barabash was arrested in February on allegations of spreading "false information" about the Russian armed forces in several posts she made on social media.

The journalist was detained soon after attending the Berlinale film festival.

She fled house arrest in April.

Speaking to a news conference earlier in the day, Barabash said her journey to France lasted around two-and-a-half weeks.

"It was very difficult," she said.

Reporters Without Borders, known by its French acronym RSF, helped bring her to safety.

- 'Somewhere in the Russian forest' -

The journalist, whose only son lives in Ukraine, had written for several news outlets, including the Russian service of Radio France Internationale (RFI).

Her 96-year-old mother stayed behind in Moscow.

Barabash said "many" people were involved in her escape, including Leonid Nevzlin, an ally of self-exiled Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who "financed" her evacuation.

"I crossed all borders by myself," said Barabash, who was born in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv when it was still part of the Soviet Union.

RSF earlier helped the escape of former Russian state television journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who protested against the Ukraine conflict during a live broadcast in 2022.

Barabash said she removed her electronic bracelet when she fled house arrest.

"It's somewhere in the Russian forest," she said, smiling.

She said she hid "for two weeks" during her escape and crossed the border on her birthday on April 26.

- 'We thought she was dead' -

RSF director Thibaut Bruttin praised her resilience.

"It has been a long and exhausting journey that has come to an end in the last few days and hours," he said.

"Several times, we thought she had been arrested or was in danger of being arrested. Several times, the plan changed. Once, we thought she was dead."

Bruttin said it had become more difficult to help journalists escape Russia after the media watchdog smuggled out Ovsyannikova.

He also said Barabash's escape was a "message of hope" for Russian reporters.

"There are forces that are willing to help you in your difficult situation," he said.

"There is no despair, there is no inevitability and RSF stands with all those who embody independent journalism."

Both RSF and Barabash said they could not disclose all the details of her escape.

"I am going to ask for political asylum," she said, adding that she hoped to continue working for RFI.

Barabash has been an outspoken critic of Moscow's military offensive against Ukraine.

In 2022, she wrote on Facebook that Russia had "bombed the country" and "razed whole cities to the ground".

Days before her arrest, she wrote of her "hatred, hatred, hatred for those who started all this".

"So many lives have been destroyed, so many families torn apart," she said on Facebook.

Barabash said on Monday she was optimistic, even though she would have to start a new life in a foreign country from scratch.

"I don't know a single person who has died of starvation in exile," she said.

V.Mitchell--SFF