A resident of Krasnodar has been fined over a post about the 9 May celebrations.

The Krasnoarmeysky District Court of Krasnodar Krai has fined local resident Grigory Belik 176,751 roubles (approximately US$2,000) under the article on desecration of military glory symbols (Part 4, Article 354.1 of the Russian Criminal Code). This was reported by the United Press Service of the Courts of Krasnodar Krai.

According to the investigation and the court, the man posted a message on social media with the gist that celebrating 9 May is “absurd, shameful and disgraceful.” The court also held that the message contained statements that insulted the dignity of those for whom Victory Day is a sacred holiday and a symbol of memory for the heroism of the Soviet people in fighting fascism.

At the hearing, Belik stated that he regards 9 May as a sacred holiday and had posted the message by accident.

In July 2023, Belik was twice fined for posts on Odnoklassniki. He was given a 1,000-rouble (about US$11) fine for displaying extremist organisation symbols (Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences) due to an image featuring the Azov Regiment symbol. He was also fined 15,000 roubles (about US$170) for posting an image of the letter “Z” in the colours of the Saint George’s ribbon alongside the caption “fascists.” He was charged with discrediting the Russian military (Part 1, Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences).