The case of an artist from Petrozavodsk, a city in northwest Russia, accused of spreading “military fakes” has been submitted to court.

The Petrozavodsk City Court has received the case concerning “military fakes” against Irina Bystrova, head of a private art school. This information has been published on the court’s website.

Bystrova is accused of distributing “fakes” about the Russian army motivated by political hatred (item “d” part 2 article 207.3 of the Criminal Code). According to the investigation, in 2023 and 2024, Bystrova made three posts on her VKontakte page: about the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Plant and about a missile strike on central Kramatorsk.

The case against Bystrova was opened at the end of 2024. On 11 December, she was detained and formally charged the following day. After this, the court placed the artist under house arrest, a measure that remains in place.

Irina Bystrova lives in a flat with her elderly mother, who has not left the home herself for several years. While under house arrest, the artist provides all care for her mother, and a social worker brings them groceries and medication. Bystrova’s mother is a labour veteran and a design engineer specialising in river fleet vessels.

This is not the first criminal case against Bystrova over publicly expressing her views. On 27 December 2022, the artist was fined 600,000 roubles (US$6,550) under the same article, as well as for “justifying terrorism” (article 205.2 of the Criminal Code). The fine was set with a five-year payment plan. Since September 2022, the artist has been listed in Rosfinmonitoring’s registry of terrorists and extremists.

On 11 March 2024, Bystrova was fined 30,000 roubles (US$330) in an administrative case on “discrediting the Russian army” (part 1 article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). The case was prompted by four posts made on VKontakte in 2023.