BBC correspondent Natalia Zotova tells her story of why a Russian woman was denied Canadian citizenship.

A Russian lady was refused citizenship in Canada after she was found guilty in absentia of fabricating information about her military service. Natalia Zotova, a BBC correspondent, tells her story.

▫️Although Maria Kartasheva moved to Canada in 2019, she continued to follow Russian news and post on her tiny Telegram channel, which had fewer than 500 followers. As the conflict erupted, she denounced the conduct of the Russian government and released the horrifying images of Bucha citizens who had perished (researchers and media discovered copious proof that the Russian military had murdered them; Russia flatly disputes this).

▫️Kartasheva did not think that her posts would be noticed, much less punished for them, she told the BBC. However, for the post about Butch, a criminal case was opened against the girl for “military fakes,” which ended in an absentee prison sentence of eight years.

“Ilya Yashin was convicted under the same article, Katz, Nevzorov - compare their audience and mine. For me, this is both laughter and sin,” said Kartasheva (the politicians and publicist she listed were declared “foreign agents” in Russia).

▫️While the Russian woman was being tried in the Basmanny Court in Moscow, the process of obtaining her citizenship was launched in Canada. Kartasheva had been waiting for this for a long time - she and her husband left Russia only because the political atmosphere frightened them.

“I liked Moscow, my work. We even lost in our standard of living after moving. We were simply afraid to stay in Russia, where you go to work, 20 police officers meet you, and you don’t know whether they need to carry out the plan or not, whether they’ll throw something at you or not. Or you go somewhere with friends, and protesters are hanging around next to you, and you don’t know whether you’ll be hooked up with them,” she recalls.

▫️Citizenship in Canada is not given to those who have been convicted in another country for crimes that Canada also recognizes as a violation of the law. Therefore, Kartasheva sent a letter to the Ministry of Migration about her criminal case: “I explained in the letter that the case is political, that activists and journalists are being imprisoned under this article.”

▫️She believes that the letter was not read. Because she was not given citizenship - and this became clear right at the ceremony for receiving it in the summer of 2023. Then Kartasheva hoped that this was just a bureaucratic delay. Six months later, on December 7, she received a letter according to which the Russian article on “fake news” was equal to the Canadian one, which prohibits the dissemination of false information. This means that she is not entitled to citizenship.

▫️She was given a month - until January 7 - to send additional information. “I hope that someone [in the migration service] is simply not aware of the political context. There are similar words in the law - well, that’s all,” says Kartasheva.

The Russian woman might be forced to leave Canada if she is ultimately refused citizenship. However, she can first dispute the judgment in court, as she intends to do.Because the Basmanny Court imprisoned Kara-Murza under this very clause, Canada levied sanctions on them—this is absurd. This summer, Kara-Murza received honorary citizenship. But because of this same article, they don't give me the customary," the confused woman says (the lawmaker has also been labeled a "foreign agent" in Russia).