00:00When a family visit turns into a prison sentence,
00:04these Russians returned home only to be accused of treason and locked up.
00:08Their cases are sending a chilling message to all Russians living abroad.
00:14It's very hard to accept you may never be able to return.
00:18Experts say almost no one is beyond the reach of repression
00:21and that it's part of a deliberate strategy by the Kremlin.
00:25Treason charges are a key tool of repression.
00:30For Daria, it's hard to grasp that her older brother, Mikhail Loshchinin,
00:34has been sentenced to 16 years in a Russian prison for treason.
00:41Misha is a person who's easy to love.
00:44He's very open, very sensitive.
00:47As an older brother, he's always protected and helped me.
00:54She's determined to get him out of prison.
00:57Mikhail Loshchinin, who holds both Russian and Belgian citizenship,
01:01traveled to Russia to visit his sick father in the summer of 2025.
01:05He was arrested at the border.
01:09Prosecutors accused him of sending 200 euros to his Ukrainian ex-girlfriend a few years ago.
01:13In June 2026, a Russian court classified the transfer as
01:18assistance to a foreign state acting against the Russian armed forces.
01:23His family, friends and former colleagues say the charges are absurd.
01:28Was she in the Ukrainian military?
01:30Doesn't matter.
01:31Why'd she ask for the money?
01:33Doesn't matter.
01:34Did he send it?
01:35Doesn't matter.
01:36They fill in the rest.
01:39And Mikhail's case is far from unique.
01:42In 2024, Russian-American citizen Ksenia Karelyna was arrested while visiting family.
01:48Her crime?
01:49Donating $51 to a U.S.-based charity that provided humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
01:55She was sentenced to 12 years in prison for treason.
02:02Stories like these are making many Russians living abroad increasingly anxious.
02:07Masha lives in Hamburg.
02:08We're using a fake name and are not showing her face to protect her identity.
02:16She still travels home to St. Petersburg.
02:20But every trip is nerve-wracking.
02:24When I was preparing to go home and visit my family, to be honest, I was very scared.
02:30I went through my phone and deleted chats, photos, especially pictures from protests.
02:38I removed the numbers of my Ukrainian friends and relatives and deleted all our messages.
02:48Getting to Russia has become an ordeal.
02:50With no direct flights from Europe, journeys are long and expensive.
02:56And at the few open land crossings, travelers often face hour-long queues.
03:04Germany's foreign office advises Germans, especially dual nationals, against traveling to Russia,
03:10warning of the risk of arbitrary detention.
03:12But for Masha, who also holds an EU passport,
03:15the choice between safety and seeing her family is a tough one.
03:21Relatives get sick, they die.
03:24There are property and inheritance issues.
03:27You can't just tell someone, don't go.
03:30For an immigrant, being able to visit your home country is incredibly important.
03:36It's very hard to accept you may never be able to return.
03:41Human rights advocates say Russians have good reason to be cautious.
03:46The legal aid group First Department has documented a sharp rise in treason cases
03:50since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
03:54Russia's repressive laws are deliberately written so vaguely that almost anyone can be found guilty of almost anything.
04:01Treason charges are a key tool of repression.
04:04In Russia, the courts are no longer independent institutions of justice.
04:08Increasingly, they function as an extension of the FSB's bureaucracy.
04:13Russian-American citizen Ksenia Karelina spent just over a year behind bars.
04:19In April 2025, she was released as part of a prisoner exchange.
04:29Michael's relatives and friends hope he too could one day be freed.
04:33So, we, yeah, okay.
04:36We wrote letters to the king, we wrote letters to the pope, even.
04:43We wrote letters to organizations and so on to try to get support.
04:49I'm really hoping about a diplomatic solution, whatever it is.
04:55To keep attention on Michael's case, his supporters continue to campaign publicly.
05:01Daria says the campaign, the performances and the letters people are sending help him endure life behind bars.
05:09The worst thing for a political prisoner is to be forgotten.
05:13Knowing that people are supporting him, fighting for him,
05:16and trying to raise awareness about the outrageous situation gives him strength and hope.
05:23Hope that some kind of release may be possible in the future.
05:28Until that day comes, hope is what keeps them going.
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