Ukrainian woman whose partner died at Azovstal sentenced to fourteen years in a penal colony

Anna Belyayeva, a resident of the occupied city of Berdiansk, has been sentenced to fourteen years in a general-regime penal colony on espionage charges under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code. The sentence was announced by the Zaporizhzhia Regional Court.

Anna’s partner, a Ukrainian serviceman, was killed at the Azovstal steelworks during the defence of Mariupol on 11 May 2022. ‘Following this, the woman developed a firmly negative attitude towards the so-called ‘special military operation’ and the armed forces of Russia,’ the occupation court claimed.

Anna Belyayeva’s brother also serves in the Ukrainian army. According to the prosecution, in 2023 she contacted him and offered to pass on information about Russian military equipment in Berdiansk, after which he provided her with the contact details of a Ukrainian intelligence officer. ‘From May 2023 to October 2024, citizen B. transmitted to the enemy information concerning the movement of passenger vehicles, heavy vehicles — KamAZ, Ural and GAZ — as well as military equipment, including tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, MT-LBs, armoured personnel carriers and others.’ the court’s press release states.

According to available information, Anna Belyayeva was abducted on 20 September 2023 and held for more than a year in basements in Berdiansk. Russian security services formally recorded her detention only on 5 December 2024. She was subsequently transferred to Mariupol remand prison and, in early 2026, moved to Crimea, where the trial took place.

Anna Belyayeva is 34 years old. According to the If There Were No War project, she worked as a facilities manager at a rural hospital.