"The Tallinn Circuit Court on Thursday upheld the June 11 ruling of the Harju District Court and dismissed the appeals filed by Burceva and her defense attorney," said a spokesperson for the Tallinn Circuit Court.

Under the Harju District Court's decision, Burceva's sentence is considered to have begun on February 28, 2024, the day she was taken into custody. The court also rejected the defense's request for compensation for damages allegedly caused by the criminal proceedings.

According to the indictment, Svetlana Burceva, who became an Estonian citizen in 1994, violated international sanctions by working for the Russian state media company RIA Rossiya Segodnya, whose head, Dmitry Kiselyov, is listed under international financial sanctions. By writing articles and providing photographs for the RIA Rossiya Segodnya/Baltnews online outlet, Burceva made economic resources available to a sanctioned individual.

Burceva was also accused of establishing and maintaining an anti-Estonian relationship with a foreign national, Roman Romachev, and of assisting him and the Russian Federation's organization R-Techno in nonviolent activities directed against Estonia's independence and sovereignty.

The court accepted all submitted evidence, deemed it admissible and concluded that Burceva's guilt had been fully proven.

The court found that Romachev is a reserve officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and head of the private intelligence firm R-Techno. Among the company's stated purposes is to help build a reserve capacity in Russia's emerging system for countering information warfare and psychological operations. Romachev's duties included not only lecturing in the Sevastopol State University master's program "Information and Hybrid Conflicts," but also recruiting future influence agents from among students.

According to the court, the purpose of Romachev and Burceva's relationship was to jointly publish writings advancing the Russian Federation's foreign and security policy objectives, including influence operations in the so-called "near abroad."

With Romachev's knowledge, Burceva authored the book "Hybrid War for the World. 'Where will its Battle of Kursk Take Place?'" The court described it as a propagandistic work lacking the characteristics of independent analysis. The book manipulates historical facts, spreads misinformation and seeks to undermine trust in the Estonian government. After its publication, Roman Romachev immediately began promoting the book to ensure its widest possible circulation, including in Estonia and other Baltic countries.

In determining the sentence, the court considered that the defendant had deliberately violated international sanctions over several years.

The court concluded that Burceva committed treason intentionally, but that the severity of her guilt was close to the minimum threshold.

Given that the crimes occurred within the same general timeframe and were similar in nature, the Harju District Court sentenced Burceva to a combined six years in prison.

The Tallinn Circuit Court's ruling has not yet entered into force.

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