A driven athlete, whose talent for weightlifting led her to become champion of Ukraine in 2021, her disappearance prompted confusion among her training partners. Months later, she resurfaced in a Moscow courtroom, accused of plotting sabotage and assassinations in Russia on behalf of the Ukrainian security services. This means that any alleged evidence, and all testimony obtained while under arrest in Russia, has to be treated with scepticism. Both the SBU security services and HUR military intelligence are believed to carry out diversionary activity and targeted assassinations on Russian soil. Lemeshchenko’s Russian passport would have been a valuable commodity for the Ukrainian security services, helping her to evade the checks and “filtration” to which Ukrainian citizens are subjected when entering Russia.

Source: The Guardian January 05, 2026 21:32 UTC