A Russian activist who helped Ukrainians flee Moscow’s invasion has been sentenced to 22 years in prison on charges of treason and financing terrorism, her lawyer and Russian media said Friday.

Nadezhda Rossinskaya, who also goes by the name Nadin Geisler, ran a volunteer group called “Army of Beauties,” which claims to have helped evacuate thousands of people from Russian-occupied territory.

Some made their way to free Ukraine through Russia’s southwestern Belgorod region, where the last open checkpoint between the two countries was located, the group says.

Fearing for her safety, Rossinskaya left Russia for Georgia in 2023, but decided to return to Belgorod months later to coordinate a complex evacuation, independent Russian news outlets reported.

She was detained in February 2024 over an Instagram post calling for donations to Ukrainian forces, and was later charged with treason and financing terrorism, according to Russian court documents and her lawyer Alexey Pryanishnikov.

— The Associated Press