Russia sentences Ukrainian powerlifting champion to 19 years in prison over alleged power line sabotage

A court in Russia has sentenced Ukrainian powerlifting champion Yuliia Lemeshchenko, who holds a Russian passport, to 19 years in prison for alleged involvement in blowing up a power transmission line and plotting to assassinate a colonel in the Russian Armed Forces.

Source: Meduza, a Latvia-based Russian media outlet

Details: The court in Moscow delivered the verdict against 42-year-old Yuliia Lemeshchenko, accusing her of treason, terrorism training, sabotage, and preparing a terrorist attack.

Meduza says that Yuliia moved from the Russian city of Voronezh to Kharkiv in 2014.

In Ukraine, she took up powerlifting, becoming national champion in 2021.

The prosecution alleged that in October 2024, Yuliia blew up electricity pylons near St Petersburg and later, in Voronezh, monitored Colonel Aleksei Loboda, an airbase commander said to be involved in bombing Kharkiv.

During the trial, Yuliia did not dispute the factual description of events, but she did not plead guilty. She said she did not regret her actions. The court sentenced her to 19 years in prison.

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