'She was very pro-Ukraine' The weights champion Russia says plotted to kill military chief

At the beginning of autumn 2023, Yulia Lemeshchenko stopped visiting the Kharkiv gym where she trained most days.

- Shaun Walker

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. Prosecutors claimed Lemeshchenko had blown up power lines outside St Petersburg and had later travelled to Voronezh, where she was staking out a Russian air force commander with a view to killing him.

She was sentenced in November to 19 years in prison. During the proceedings, she did not deny the accusations, but said her conscience was clear. "Maybe I am making my position worse with my words, but my honour and conscience are more important to me. I did what I considered necessary," she said in final words to the court, which were recorded and published on independent Russian news websites.

Russian authorities have systematically threatened, beaten and tortured Ukrainian prisoners of war and other detainees accused of working for Ukraine. This means any alleged evidence and all testimony obtained in Russian custody, has to be treated with scepticism. However, Lemeshchenko's defiant statements suggested there might be some truth to the accusations in this case.