Politician Lev Shlosberg has been placed under house arrest in a case concerning the discrediting of the army.

The Pskov City Court has placed politician Lev Shlosberg under house arrest. He is accused of repeated “discrediting” of the army (Part 1 of Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code), reports RusNews.

The politician was brought to court in handcuffs.

The hearing was held behind closed doors, despite Shlosberg’s objections. “Nevertheless, the court ruled on site to hold the hearing behind closed doors, taking into account that, among other things, federal law protects the secrecy of the investigation,” the judge said after the politician’s statement.

On the morning of 10 June, Shlosberg’s home was searched. He was charged with discrediting the army over a video of his debate with historian Yuri Pivovarov, which aired on the YouTube channel “Zhivoy Gvozd.” According to the investigation, Shlosberg posted the debate video on Odnoklassniki. Shlosberg denies this and says he does not administer that page.

The debate opponents discussed the war in Ukraine. Pivovarov spoke out against a peace agreement unfavourable to Ukraine, while Shlosberg insisted on an immediate end to the fighting.

Before the criminal case was initiated, Shlosberg had been fined three times under administrative protocols for “discrediting” the army (Part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). One of these fines was issued for reposting an appeal by Arnold Schwarzenegger, who condemned the invasion of Ukraine and expressed support for Russians protesting the war, and another for posting a recording from Channel One featuring Marina Ovsyannikova, who came into the studio with an anti-war placard.

This is already the second criminal case against the politician. In 2024, he was charged with failing to comply with the obligations of a “foreign agent” (Part 2 of Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code). The case was opened after Shlosberg “posted a video online without the ‘foreign agent’ label” and two administrative rulings entered into force over the absence of this label in his posts (Part 4 of Article 19.34 of the Code of Administrative Offences).

The Ministry of Justice added Shlosberg to the list of “foreign agents” in June 2023, stating that he spoke out against the war in Ukraine, “spread false information” about decisions by the Russian authorities and shared material from other “foreign agents.”