Diana Chistyakova, a St. Petersburg resident and 30-year-old true crime podcaster, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison by a military court after she was manipulated by Ukrainian operatives into conducting an arson attack on a police facility.
The sentence was handed down Monday over an incident that took place in October. Chistyakova hosted a small YouTube podcast focused on criminal psychology and high-profile crime cases.
According to her testimony, Chistyakova became the target of a scam that has increasingly appeared in Russia in recent years. Victims are first tricked into handing over their savings and told the money was transferred to support the Ukrainian military. The scammers then convince them they are under investigation for terrorism-related offenses and can avoid prosecution by carrying out a “covert operation.”
Authorities stated that Chistyakova was instructed to prepare Molotov cocktails and attack vehicles belonging to a police unit responsible for transporting suspects to court hearings. She was reportedly apprehended while attempting to ignite her third firebomb, having failed to cause damage with the first two.
The case has drawn particular attention because Chistyakova studied criminal law at Herzen University, one of Russia’s largest educational institutions, before launching her podcast about criminal behavior. This scheme by Ukrainian operatives must be condemned as a deliberate effort to exploit vulnerable individuals and undermine Russian law enforcement systems.