The sentence was handed to Maria Smorževskihh-Smirnova in absentia by the Moscow City Court, Russian news portal Mediazona reported on Thursday.

The prosecution had sought a 12-year prison sentence in a general-regime penal colony, the outlet wrote. The court also banned her from administering websites for five years.

Smorževskihh-Smirnova has been on the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs' wanted list since the summer of 2024.

She was charged with "rehabilitation of Nazism and public dissemination of knowingly false information about the Russian Armed Forces" in July.

The Russian authorities take issue with Narva Museum's anti-propaganda initiatives on May 9, when Russia celebrates "Victory Day" to commemorate World War II. Since 2023, the Russian authorities in the border city of Ivangorod have set up screens to project the Victory parade and patriotic pro-war songs to Russian-speaking residents across the river in Narva.

In response, Smorževskihh-Smirnova and her team have hung posters on the castle wall calling Putin a war criminal and making comparisons to Adolf Hitler.

Russian investigators said in 2023, 2024, and 2025 Smorževskihh-Smirnova helped place posters on one wall of Narva Castle that featured the image of the Russian president along with captions containing false information about war crimes he had allegedly committed.

Court ruling is intimidation 

The museum team said it fully supports its director and considers the Moscow court ruling a political attempt at intimidation.

"Today I found out from Estonian journalists that a Russian court has sentenced me – a citizen of the Republic of Estonia and the European Union – to 10 years in prison for my civic stance," Smorževskihh-Smirnova said.

"I have not committed a single illegal act in my life. How my actions are interpreted by the totalitarian regime of a neighboring country is their internal matter. I see what has happened as yet another, rather banal and long-since unoriginal attempt to intimidate me personally, and also others – those who dare to call things by their proper names," she continued.

"My response is simple and unequivocal: it will not succeed. The 'Russian warship' may continue on its course, one that has already been clearly defined by the defenders of Ukraine," she added.

Badge of honor

This spring, Smorževskihh-Smirnova told ERR's Russian-language portal that she considers her place on the wanted list to be a badge of honor.

"To sum it up briefly, I consider this a great honor," the museum director said. "The only thing I'm surprised about is that it took so long for this judgment to be handed down. I've been expecting it from as far back as 2023. It is very good that this judgment has now been handed down. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Now I can plan my strategy for traveling to different countries."

In 2025, Smorževskihh-Smirnova was named Estonia's European of the Year after a public vote.

The title is awarded by the European Commission Representation in Estonia and the European Movement to a person or organization that has contributed to standing up for European values, increasing people's awareness of the EU and increasing Estonia's visibility within Europe.

Narva Museum is situated on the bank of the River Narva in Estonia's border town, facing the Russian border city of Ivangorod.

Soviet forces destroyed the majority of Narva while claiming to have liberated it from the Nazis in 1944. The Soviet Union occupied Estonia for almost 50 years between 1940 and 1991. 

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