A preliminary court hearing in the case against the Estonian citizen Svetlana Burtseva on charges of treason and working for Russian propagandists was held in the district court in Tallinn, Estonian public television ERR reported, quoted by Ukrinform and BTA.
The case will begin on the merits on November 1.
In 1994, Burtseva acquired Estonian citizenship through naturalization. Since 2017, he has been working for the Russian media conglomerate "Россия сегодня". and covers events in Estonia for various online outlets, said supervising prosecutor Eneli Laurits.
Burtseva's materials were published on various sites and as part of other media texts serving the interests of Russian propaganda, the state indictment notes.
Prosecutor Laurits stressed that even after the sanctions imposed by the Council of Europe on Russia, Burtseva did not stop working for Dmitry Kiselyov, the owner and true beneficiary of the Kremlin propaganda channel "Rossiya Segodnya".
According to the indictment, despite knowing about the ban on such activity, Burtseva continued her work even after the publication Sputnik Estonia ceased its activities due to sanctions. From 2020 to 2023, Burtseva produces media content for the Baltnews.ee portal under the pseudonym Alan Torme.
„The pre-trial proceedings of the Estonian Internal Security Service (ISS) concluded that Burtseva cannot be considered an independent, objective and neutral journalist. According to ISS, evidence indicates that Burtseva worked as a propagandist for portals serving the Kremlin's aggressive goals. During the investigation, her activity was revealed, representing both a violation of international sanctions and treason”, said the state prosecutor.
Burtseva attended Sevastopol State University in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine in 2019-2021, where she participated in an information and hybrid conflict program led by a former counterintelligence officer and head of a Russian-registered private intelligence firm . The two-year master's program in Sevastopol trains international media workers and analysts to deal with hybrid threats facing Russia, the prosecutor noted.
After completing her studies, Burtseva co-authored a book entitled “Hybrid War for the World“ (under the pseudonym LB Svet). It describes a global hybrid war that Russia must win.
According to the prosecution, the evidence presented in the indictment shows that Burtseva, as a citizen of Estonia, committed treason through non-violent actions against the independence and sovereignty of the republic.
Ukrinform reported earlier that 57-year-old Svetlana Burtseva has been detained since early March for her cooperation with Russian government media.