Russian Court Sentences Exiled Journalist Michael Nacke to 5 Years in Prison

A Moscow court has sentenced exiled journalist and YouTuber Michael Nacke to five years in prison in absentia on charges of calling for actions against Russia’s national security, bringing his combined sentence to 14 years. Nacke, 32, is a prominent critic of the Kremlin whose Russian-language YouTube channel covers Russia’s war against Ukraine. He was previously sentenced in absentia to 11 years in prison in 2023 for spreading what authorities called “false information” about the Russian military. The latest conviction stems from a video Nacke published in 2024 that investigators said contained calls for activities “directed against state security,” the Moscow Prosecutor’s Office said . Moscow’s Basmanny District Court said the video was published on May 7, the exiled news outlet Mediazona reported . That day, Nacke uploaded a video titled “Now Putin Can Be Eliminated. The Day Putin Ceased to Be President.” The court partially combined the new sentence with his earlier prison term, ordering him to serve a total of 14 years in a general-security penal colony. It also barred him from administering websites for five years. Nacke worked at the Ekho Moskvy radio station from 2015 to 2020, hosting several programs on politics and public affairs. He moved to Georgia in June 2021 and later relocated to Lithuania. Russian authorities designated him a “foreign agent” in 2022 and have placed him on an international wanted list. His YouTube channel ranked second in journalist Dmitry Kolezev’s ranking of the largest Russian-language channels covering politics and public affairs in September 2026, drawing more than 80.4 million views. Only Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s channel received more views that month. Nacke’s channel has consistently placed among the ranking’s top three in recent months. This article was translated with the help of artificial intelligence and was reviewed by a Moscow Times editor before publication. Learn more about our newsroom's AI policy here . Read this article in Russian at The Moscow Times' Russian service.