Russia Sentences Alsu Kurmasheva, American Editor, to a Penal Colony

A court in Russia said on Monday that it had convicted a Russian American editor for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, an American broadcaster funded by the United States government, to six and a half years in a penal colony for spreading false information about the Russian army.

The conviction of the editor, Alsu Kurmasheva, 47, took place on Friday and was first reported by The Associated Press. Also on Friday, a different Russian court sentenced Evan Gershkovich, 32, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, to 16 years in a higher-security penal colony on espionage charges that he, his employer and the American government have denied.

A court in Kazan, a major Russian city 500 miles east of Moscow, heard the case against Ms. Kurmasheva rapidly and behind closed doors, a process similar to that of Mr. Gershkovich’s case. There were only two hearings before Judge Ilfir Z. Salikhov read his ruling on Friday, according to court records. It took the court less than 10 days to process the case, the records showed.

The quick convictions of Ms. Kurmasheva and Mr. Gershkovich have raised the prospect that the government in Moscow might be preparing for a possible prisoner swap with Washington. Russian officials have said that discreet talks are being conducted with the United States about Mr. Gershkovich but that any prisoner swap would come only after a verdict.

In May, President Biden called on President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to release Ms. Kurmasheva and Mr. Gershkovich and said that the American government was doing everything to bring them home, along with other captives in Russia.

Ms. Kurmasheva was convicted of “spreading false information about the Russian army,” a charge that Russian law enforcement has used to silence critics of the invasion of Ukraine. Natalia Loseva, a spokeswoman for the court, said she could not provide further details about the case because it was classified.