Vladimir Grabovetsky and Polina Kuzmina are political prisoners
Russian citizen sentenced to 14 years in prison for transferring funds to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, while Ukrainian citizen sentenced to 12 years for aiding him
Vladimir Grabovetsky is a native of Ukraine and a Russian citizen, a former naval serviceman from Severomorsk. He decided to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces by sending 1,000–1,500 rubles every week. For the technical side of the transfers, he turned to Polina Kuzmina, a Ukrainian citizen living in Moscow. She provided paid services for transferring money to Ukraine and also worked caring for elderly people. Kuzmina received money in Russia from Grabovetsky, while her relatives in Ukraine sent the equivalent amount in hryvnias to an acquaintance of his. According to the prosecution, between December 2022 and May 2024, the defendants sent a total of 92,500 rubles to Ukraine.
Grabovetsky was placed in a pre-trial detention center in May 2024, while Kuzmina was detained in July. She was detained on the street while carrying a jar of borscht to one of the people under her care. Grabovetsky was charged under the article on high treason in the form of a Russian citizen providing financial assistance to a foreign state in activities directed against the security of the Russian Federation (Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), while Polina Kuzmina was charged with aiding this crime (Part 5 of Article 33, Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
In court, Grabovetsky attempted to take full responsibility, stating that Kuzmina did not know the purpose of the transfers. She herself also maintained that she had only transferred money to Grabovetsky’s friend, as she had done for many of her clients. However, the court found that the man and woman had acted intentionally and in an organized manner.
On September 29, 2025, a military court sentenced Vladimir Grabovetsky to 14 years in a maximum-security penal colony and stripped him of the rank of “reserve senior warrant officer.” Despite Polina Kuzmina’s health problems, the court sentenced her to 12 years in prison. Both were also fined heavily, and their mobile phones were confiscated.
We believe that the purpose of Grabovetsky and Kuzmina was not to harm the security of the Russian Federation, as required by the elements of the crime of high treason with which they were charged. Vladimir Grabovetsky, a native of Ukraine, sought to help his compatriots resist Russian aggression. Polina Kuzmina may indeed not have known about his aims, but she may have known and shared them. In any case, the impulse to support Ukraine in this way does not constitute a crime. It is particularly cynical and absurd to punish Ukrainians for this during a war, while demanding that they show loyalty to Russia and renounce their national, human, and family ties — something they are being forced to do through repression.
A detailed description of Kuzmina’s and Grabovetsky’s case and of our position is available on our website.
How can you help?
You can write to Vladimir Grabovetsky and Polina Kuzmina at the following address:
RU:
165651, Архангельская область, г. Коряжма, Магистральное шоссе, д. 101, ФКУ ИК-5 УФСИН России по Архангельской области, Грабовецкий Владимир Григорьевич, 1971 г. р.
109383, г. Москва, ул. Шоссейная, д. 92, ФКУ СИЗО-6 ГУФСИН России по г. Москве, Кузьмина Полина Николаевна, 1975 г. р.
EN:
Vladimir Grigoryevich Grabovetsky (born 1971), Penal Colony No. 5, Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for Arkhangelsk Oblast, 101 Magistralnoe shosse, Koryazhma, Arkhangelsk Oblast, 165651, Russia.
Polina Nikolayevna Kuzmina (born 1975), Remand Prison No. 6, Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the city of Moscow, 92 Shosseynaya Street, Moscow, 109383, Russia.
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