A dishwasher who worked at an Investigative Committee cadet corps was sentenced to 19 years in prison. She was accused of recruiting a cadet into the Freedom of Russia Legion

A dishwasher who worked at an Investigative Committee cadet corps was sentenced to 19 years in prison. She was accused of recruiting a cadet into the Freedom of Russia Legion

Former dishwasher at the Russian Investigative Committee’s cadet corps, Aleksandra Zhitenko, was sentenced to 19 years in a general-regime penal colony and fined 800,000 rubles in a case about recruiting students into the Freedom of Russia Legion.

The 53-year-old Zhitenko was accused of promoting the activities of the Freedom of Russia Legion, as well as drawing one of the cadets into the organization by providing him with specialized literature, including materials on developing clandestine skills, making hiding places, and terrain reconnaissance.

According to Mediazona, the FSB monitored Zhitenko for more than a year before arresting her in July 2024. The key evidence in the case was a recording made by the security service of conversations between Zhitenko and the cadet.

Zhitenko did not admit guilt. The defense insisted that she had not recruited the cadet, but had used the pedagogical technique of “agreement” to distract the teenager from a dangerous interest in a banned organization.

@meduzalive