Russian Court Sentences Historian Tamara Eydeman to 8 Years in Absentia on Nazism Rehabilitation and Military 'Fake' Charges

A Moscow court has sentenced historian and educator Tamara Eydeman to eight years in prison in absentia on charges of rehabilitating Nazism and spreading false information about the Russian military, according to reports from the Mediazona outlet.

The Moscow City Court found Eydeman guilty under Article 354.1 (rehabilitation of Nazism) and Article 207.3, Part 2, Clause 'd' (knowingly spreading false information about the Russian armed forces). The Nazism rehabilitation charge stems from a May 2024 video titled 'Conversations on Important Matters: The Day of the Stolen Victory,' posted on Eydeman's YouTube channel. Prosecutors alleged that the video contained negative statements about the USSR's actions during World War II, questioned days of military glory and commemorative dates in Russia, and described veterans as unintelligent, forgetful, and dishonest. The video, per the prosecution, suggested collusion between the USSR and Germany.

The charge of spreading military 'fakes' relates to a social media post Eydeman made in July 2024 about a Russian missile strike on the Okhmatdyt children's hospital in Kyiv, Ukraine. Authorities alleged that she disseminated deliberately false information about the Russian army.

Eydeman, a prominent history teacher and YouTube educator with nearly 1.8 million subscribers to her 'History Lessons with Tamara Eydeman' channel, left Russia following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. She has been a vocal critic of the war. The Russian Ministry of Justice designated her a 'foreign agent' in September 2022, and she had previously faced fines for failing to comply with that status and for a separate administrative charge of 'discrediting' the Russian military.