Journalists did not see a political subtext in the Dzhikaeva case.

The case against Alina Dzhikayeva, editor-in-chief of the Telegram channel "Sapa," has no political overtones; it is part of the fight against information leaks from law enforcement agencies.

As "Caucasian Knot" reported, on April 16, it was reported that Moscow's Zamoskvoretsky Court had chosen a preventive measure for Alina Dzhikayeva, editor-in-chief of "Sapa." She has been sent to pretrial detention for two months, until June 12, on charges of bribery.

Political scientist and journalist Ruslan Totrov and two other journalists from Dagestan and the Stavropol Territory, who spoke on condition of anonymity, commented on Dzhikayeva's criminal prosecution to the "Caucasian Knot."

None of them found any political context in the case against the Telegram channel editor. "I don't see any political component in the Sapa case. They didn't express opposition views and always assisted the security forces in covering issues of extremism and terrorism, as well as the general fight against crime. The fundamental issue that Alina Dzhikaeva personally focused on was the fight against violence against children and cases of pedophilia," said a Dagestani journalist, who asked not to be named.

He considered the Sapa case part of a "nationwide trend aimed at combating information leaks within the Ministry of Internal Affairs and from the security forces in general."

Alina Dzhikaeva "has never been involved in sharp, independent political journalism," and "it's simply not her forte," Ruslan Totrov also pointed out.

This is a mundane dispute with the editor-in-chief.

"It's very difficult for me to imagine that this is the persecution of a journalist undesirable to the authorities, because, in my opinion, he's quite a favorable journalist." And the accusation itself is, let's say, unfortunately all too typical of how the media has operated in Russia in recent years. I'll immediately clarify that if it turns out that Alina Dzhikaeva was, as they say, "ordered" and is being persecuted specifically as a journalist, I won't hesitate for a second and will certainly speak out in her defense. But for now, it seems to me that this is a mundane showdown with the editor-in-chief, but at the same time, whether direct or indirect, it doesn't even matter, an "attack" on a publication that, for me first and foremost, plays a huge role in covering life in South Ossetia," he said.

Totrov emphasized that the Sapa Telegram channel "is certainly not an opposition resource in any way," but it did provide an "alternative agenda" in South Ossetia.

It's very difficult to overestimate the role of this project in South Ossetia.

"This is truly important. In my opinion, what Sapa does about South Ossetia far exceeds its rather, let's say, official, whitewashing activities in North Ossetia. But, again, I'm not speaking for Sapa or any other publication, especially Sapa, and not a media outlet, not I would have expected something different. But it's very difficult to overestimate the role of this project in South Ossetia. In my opinion, it's simply the main mouthpiece of independent information in South Ossetia today among Russian outlets. It's worth mentioning here, because there are also foreign publications. That is, on the one hand, we view the "attack" on the editorial board as an attempt to interfere with the editorial board's work, and I categorically reject that in any case. But the story with the editor-in-chief probably needs to be separated," he said.

A journalist from the Stavropol Territory, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, noted that he could not speak about the political nature of the case due to a lack of complete information. "As for paying for information, this is a common practice that has become more acute in recent years," he said.

As a reminder, on April 15, the state news agency TASS reported that Dzhikayeva's case was connected to a similar case involving employees of the Baza Telegram channel.

In the summer of 2025, Gleb Trifonov, editor-in-chief of the Baza Telegram channel, and several police officers from various regions of Russia, including the Krasnodar Territory, were arrested on the same charges. Investigators claimed that Trifonov was buying intelligence from security forces. He denied the charges.