Alexandra Ageeva

Alexandra Ageeva (Russian: Александра Агеева; born March 26, 1986) is a Russian journalist and the founder of Sota.Vision, an independent political media.

In February 2022, she was designated as foreign agent by the Russian authorities.^[1][2]

Alexandra Ageeva was born on March 26, 1986, in Sverdlovsk. She studied instrumental music at the Rostropovich Voronezh Music High School (Voronezh), graduated from Rostov College of Culture (Rostov-on-Don), and completed qualifications as a teacher and a head of instrumental group. While studying in college, Ageeva joined the Rostov State Musical Theater as a choir artist and performed there after graduating.

In 2014, Ageeva became a correspondent for a politics-focused media Grani.ru. She covered the anti-war political actions of Solidarnost United Democratic Movement,^[3] worked on a documentary about Euromaidan activists,^[4][5] covered the preparation of the Spring united opposition rally and the election campaigns of Boris Nemtsov and Ilya Yashin in Kostroma.^[6][7] She was, for the first time, detained at the rally in support of Nadiya Savchenko in January 2015.^[8][9]

On December 31, 2015, she registered Sota.Vision (abbr. Sota), her own political news outlet.^[10][11] She also contributed to the production of Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr.'s Nemtsov documentary and was credited.^[12] Sota.Vision became known due to its coverage of political events, such as the persecution of Alexey Navalny, and expanded to work with dozens of reporters.^[13]

Ageeva covered the trial of Ildar Dadin (the first person imprisoned solely for political activism in Russia)^[14] and was occasionally detained near the Constitutional Court in Saint Petersburg.^[15] She also reported on 2018–2021 Shies protests and 2020–2021 Khabarovsk Krai protests.^[16]

On February 11, 2022, Aleksandra Ageeva, mentioned under her married name Aynbinder, was designated as a foreign agent.^[17] In her L'Express interview, Ageeva revealed that the designation was due to YouTube monetization and a 200 Russian Ruble donation from Belarussian activists.^[18] In March 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she left Russia and ultimately settled in Riga, Latvia.^[19][20]

In January 2023, the Russian state-owned Channel One aired a story accusing Ageeva and Sota.Vision on spreading alleged fake news.^[21]