A court in Estonia has sentenced Svetlana Burceva, who cooperated with the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency (the media group behind Russia Today), to six years in prison on charges of treason and violating international sanctions, Estonian outlet ERR News reports.
The sentence imposed matches the one previously requested by the prosecution for Burceva.
According to the publication, Burceva, 57, acquired Estonian citizenship through naturalization in 1994. Since 2017, she had been working for Estonian online outlets affiliated with the propaganda media group Rossiya Segodnya: for Sputnik Estonia (Sputnik Eesti) until it ceased operations in 2019, and then for the Baltnews website from 2020-2023. Much of Burceva’s work for the latter was published pseudonymously.
In 2023, Burceva joined the pro-Russian party Koos (Together). One of its leaders, Aivo Peterson, has also been charged with treason.
“Her [Burceva’s] articles were published in online news outlets serving the interests of Russian propaganda. Even after sanctions were imposed against Russia, Burceva continued working for the benefit of the owner and actual beneficiary of the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency, Dmitry Kiselyov,” said Estonian state prosecutor Eneli Laurits.
The court also established that Burceva maintained contacts with Roman Romachev — a retired FSB officer, a former member of the Counterintelligence Department of Directorate “R” (according to his own account, at least), and the director of the Russian company R-Techno. Romachev also describes himself as “one of the top experts in cybercrime investigations and OSINT.” As part of his collaboration with Burceva, a book titled Hybrid War for Peace was written and published. The court deemed the book to be propagandistic, saying that it was aimed at undermining trust in the Estonian authorities and destabilizing society.
The full title of the book is Hybrid War for Peace: Where Will the 'Battle of Kursk' Take Place? It is attributed to the author L.B. Svet. According to the annotation, it was authored by “an analyst, journalist, and political scientist from the Baltics” who “offers a unique systemic perspective on global developments” — particularly on the war in Ukraine. The book purports to identify “the main initiator and beneficiary of the fronts, weapons, and technologies, as well as the numerous participants in a large-scale invisible war that has been waged simultaneously across all spheres and continents for over 100 years.”
The Russian marketplace Ozon offers the book for 2,155 rubles ($27). As The Insider notes, the seller listed on the site shares a surname with Romachev and also distributes the FSB officer's books on intelligence-related topics.
According to the SPARK-Interfax database, Romachev's company R-Techno is registered at his place of residence in Strogino, Moscow, and has four employees. In 2024, with a turnover of nearly $19,000, the company’s profit amounted to only $1,600. In 2005, Romachev also registered a company with a similar name, R-Techno North Caucasus, in the Rostov Region.
According to leaks reviewed by The Insider, Romachev graduated from the Moscow Radio Engineering College in 1997, and then from the Moscow Industrial University in 2004 with a degree in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science. Even as a student, he served in the FSB’s Counterintelligence Department from 1997 to 2002 and completed radio communications courses at the Retraining Institute of the FSB Academy. In his résumé for the position of security officer, he listed skills including business intelligence and crime forecasting.
Burceva was detained at the end of February 2024 and was placed under arrest this past March.
Her case is not without precedent. Earlier this year, a court in neighboring Lithuania sentenced Eduardas Manovas, 83, who holds both Lithuanian and Russian citizenship, to 8.5 years in prison for espionage on behalf of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Defense (GRU).