On November 28, Yevgenia Khasis, convicted in the case over the murders of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova, was released from a penal colony in Mordovia and gave an interview to Ksenia Sobchak. Novaya-Europe summarized her main statements.
In 2011, Khasis and Nikita Tikhonov, one of the leaders of BORN, were found guilty in the murder case. Tikhonov received a life sentence, while Khasis was sentenced to 18 years in prison. She said she had been obsessively in love with Tikhonov and for a long time saw what happened as a tragic love story. According to her, that view ended in 2022, when Tikhonov called her his “accomplice” during a Supreme Court hearing.
Khasis said she acknowledges guilt in complicity in Markelov’s murder, while stressing that under the court verdict she was not found guilty of Baburova’s murder. She claimed that on the eve of the crime she did not know what exact role she would play: Tikhonov had only asked her to report by radio which way Markelov was walking. At the same time, Khasis admitted she understood that a killing was being planned and said she would carry that inner responsibility for the rest of her life.
The former BORN member also spoke about her current views. She described nationalism as an “extreme form of patriotism,” supported tighter migration limits and priority for Russian producers, and said “conservative values” were important. She also said that during her time in BORN, group leader Ilya Goryachev claimed the organization had backing from the presidential administration.
Khasis separately addressed the war in Ukraine. She said recruiters had come to the colony offering imprisoned women contracts with the Defense Ministry for medical service at the front. Khasis signed such a contract, but the deployment never happened. According to her, both Tikhonov and Goryachev would also like to take part in the war.
After her release, Khasis also spoke about prison life, disputes over how her case was covered by Novaya Gazeta, and her views of other inmates, including Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Darya Trepova. At the end of the interview, when asked about the presidential election, she said she could not give a clear answer, adding that “whoever started it should finish it.”