A Guinness World Record holder has swum in support of politically imprisoned indigenous rights defenders.

Permskaya activist Elena Guseva tried to swim along the Black Sea coast from Batumi to the side Chakvito draw attention to fate Daria Egereva и Natalia Leonhardt.

 "I know what it's like to end up in prison for nothing, to be thrown into a cage and realize you're not a danger to society at all. It's incredibly difficult. I think about how they're doing in there every minute." — Guseva told a SOTAvision correspondent.

The activist was originally scheduled to swim about 10 kilometers, but the swim was interrupted after the Georgian Coast Guard intervened. The officers welcomed the participants but explained that future such events would require official approval.

Despite this, Guseva spent over an hour in the water and managed to swim about four kilometers. She plans to repeat her action this coming weekend.

Darya Egereva and Natalya Leonhardt were arrested in December 2025. They are accused of "participating in a terrorist organization" due to their ties to an association of indigenous peoples experts. North, Siberia и The Far East "Aborigen Forum." Under this article, women face 10 to 20 years in prison.

Elena Guseva is a mother of three and an athlete. In 2013, she swam across the Bering Strait, which connects Russia и USA, and was included in the Guinness Book of Records. After the war began, she attended an anti-war picket and was fined 40 rubles for "discrediting" the army. She was then tried for making seven 500-ruble transfers to the Anti-Corruption Foundation. In February, she emigrated to Georgia.

You can read about Elena Guseva in a large article by "NeMoskva."