Olga Bychkova

Affiliated media: YouTube channel "Zhivoy Gvozd" , Host

Incident date: December 18, 2025

Attack type:

• Court trial

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: Mediazona

Location: Russia, Moscow, Moscow

Additional information:

The Savelovsky District Court has fined Olga Bychkova, host of the YouTube channel "Zhivoy Gvozd", and Alexei Kuznetsov, host of the channel "Diletant", 10,000 roubles each (€100) for participating in the activities of an “undesirable” organisation, under Article 20.33 of the Code of Administrative Offences. According to the case files, the journalists took part in the work of Radio Echo GmbH, a German company established by Maxim Kurnikov, former deputy editor-in-chief of Echo of Moscow radio. The company owns the Echo website, which hosted all broadcasts of the "Zhivoy Gvozd" YouTube channel, created in 2022 following the closure of Echo of Moscow radio. Alexei Venediktov, former editor-in-chief of Echo of Moscow, stated that administrative protocols under this article have been issued against eight employees of the "Zhivoy Gvozd" project.