Accused Russian Spy’s Drunken Texts to the FBI Landed Her Behind Bars

When an operative loses control

During an emergency hearing on December 2, 2025, the 34-year-old Nomma Zarubina—codename “Alisa”—had her bail revoked and was sent to a pre-trial detention center after repeatedly sending drunken, threatening texts to an FBI agent involved in her investigation.

Zarubina was first arrested in December 2024 over alleged FSB connections and, in April 2025, charged with transporting women across state lines for prostitution, OCCRP   reported. By July, prosecutors said she was harassing “Case Agent 1” with endless messages.

I am under surveillance by Russians by consulate. Call me. I can provide the picture. They watch me...I need you. They fuck my brain.

Nomma Zarubina

Texts sent to FBI Case Agent 1

Initially spared pre-trial detention, Zarubina was court-ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation. The harassment didn’t stop, and she reportedly sent 50 more texts on September 13, 2025. Her lawyers blamed alcohol and stress. She was ordered to undergo outpatient evaluation and treatment for alcohol abuse.

By November, prosecutors filed additional complaints after she sent yet more messages.

You are a bitch

Nomma Zarubina

Text sent to FBI Case Agent 1

Zarubina went from infiltrating anti-Kremlin events to the FBI’s detention, undone by her own recklessness. Drunken texts and erratic behaviour turned a spy operation into a self-inflicted disaster.

What do we know about Zarubina?

Nomma Zarubina was born in Tomsk, Russia, in 1990 and earned a master’s degree in international security at the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration before moving to the US in 2016, where she married and had a daughter.

Zarubina positioned herself as a credible voice in anti-Kremlin circles, appearing on panels organized by the Free Nations of Post-Russia and speaking at events on Parliament Hill in Ottawa alongside former Member of the European Parliament Anna Fotyga and other high-ranking officials and think-tank leaders. She cultivated a veneer of legitimacy that won some trust—but not all.

After her arrest, exiled Russians recalled her unusual behavior. Kremlin opposition figure Leonid Volkov wrote that she showed “zero interest in the content of the conversation, but obligatory selfie at any cost with as many public faces as possible,” drawing comparisons to Maria Butina—a Russian operative who we previously reported on—convicted in the US for acting as a foreign agent.

Zarubina’s links to the Kremlin

During a visit to Russia in 2020, Zarubina met an FSB agent, known as “FSB Officer 1,” who ordered her to gather intelligence on US journalists, analysts, and military officers. She passed along the collected information, continuing a pattern of advancing Kremlin interests that stretched back years. 

Her Instagram paints a revealing picture: photos in Moscow, interviews with Russian state media, appearances with government officials, and even posted a selfie wearing a “KGB” t-shirt while walking with her daughter.

Before infiltrating anti-Kremlin events abroad, Zarubina worked with the Putin-linked Russian Center New York (RCNY) according to her own LinkedIn page, where she organized the annual “Immortal Regiment” march, and at the Kremlin-funded Coordinating Council of Russian Compatriots of the US (KSORS), CEPA  reported.

The Immortal Regiment marches, held in Russia and abroad, celebrate the so-called “Great Patriotic War.” Russia celebrates the events as a tribute to “Russians and Americans who fought side by side against Nazism,” with attendees carrying portraits of Soviet army relatives while wearing St. George  ribbons.

RCNY was founded by Elena Branson, who, in March 2022, was charged with allegedly acting and conspiring to act illegally in the US as an agent of the Russian government, failing to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (“FARA”), committing visa fraud, and lying to the FBI. 

Branson was also the godmother of Zarubina’s daughter. 

DOJ  official documents show she corresponded with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and met an unnamed senior Russian minister before launching RCNY and the Kremlin-backed “I Love Russia” campaign aimed at American youth. 

The FBI alleges that Branson started working illegally for the Russian government beginning in at least 2011, received Kremlin funding for RCNY in 2012, denied all charges in a 2020 FBI interview, and then fled to Russia. She now appears regularly on Russian state TV, where she also said that she had left the US because she thought it was likely that she would be arrested.

Zarubina stayed in the US, but even after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, she traveled back and forth. Her Instagram posts shifted from pro-Russian content to supporting Ukraine and anti-Putin voices. Ironically, in 2023, she posted: “Be careful who you trust, salt and sugar look the same.”

During multiple FBI interrogations, Zarubina denied working with Russian agents but confirmed her ties to Branson and RCNY, as well as contacts with Rossotrudnichestvo, also known as Russian House, which we previously reported as an espionage front. 

By her fourth interrogation, her story changed: she admitted to concealing the fact that she did agree to perform missions under the FSB agents' instruction. She claims that she did so out of fear, and does not consider herself guilty.

Before her final arrest, Zarubina posted several rambles on her social media pages, blaming the FBI and US government for “unfairly framing” her to “gain their unneeded advantages”. She now faces up to five years in prison, with her next hearing set for next month.

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