Overview

• Ekaterina Barabash, a 64-year-old Russian journalist and outspoken critic of the Ukraine invasion, has arrived in Paris after a perilous two-and-a-half-week escape from Moscow.
• Barabash removed her electronic monitoring tag and traveled over 2,800 kilometers through clandestine routes, coordinated by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
• She spent two weeks hiding in a Russian forest before crossing into France on April 26, her birthday, leaving behind her 96-year-old mother in Moscow.
• Facing charges of spreading 'false information' about the military, Barabash risked up to 10 years in prison under Russia's draconian media laws enacted in 2022.
• Now in Paris, Barabash plans to seek political asylum and continue her work with exiled Russian-language media, joining a growing wave of journalists fleeing repression in Russia.