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A criminal case has been opened against Anna Mongait, a journalist from the Dozhd (TV Rain) television channel, for allegedly spreading “fake news” about the Russian army (Part 2, Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code). This was reported by RIA Novosti, citing a law enforcement source, and by Baza, which did not specify a source.
Baza writes that the Investigative Committee initiated the case on 18 July. The basis for the prosecution was posts on the journalist’s Telegram channel about strikes on Odesa, published in April 2022 and July 2023.
Like many other Dozhd employees, Mongait left Russia after the start of the war in Ukraine. In November 2022, the Ministry of Justice added her to the “foreign agents” list. Afterwards, she was fined four times under administrative proceedings for breaching “foreign agent” legislation (Article 19.34 of the Administrative Code).
On 18 July, the Investigative Committee’s Moscow office reported that criminal cases had also been opened against Dozhd presenters Ekaterina Kotrikadze, Valeria Ratnikova, and Tikhon Dzyadko, who is also the channel’s editor-in-chief. They are all accused of spreading military “fakes” (Point “d,” Part 2, Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code) and evading “foreign agent” obligations (Part 2, Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code).
23 September New episodes have been added to Anna Mongait’s “military fakes” case, according to Mediazona.
During the reading of the indictment, prosecutor Fomina listed the two previously known posts on Mongait’s channel about the bombing of Odesa.
The new episodes in the case are posts dated this year. In January, Mongait announced a livestream with Rabbi Motl Gordon and Bishop Grigoriy Mikhnov-Vaytenko of the Apostolic Orthodox Church. According to investigators, the post expressed Mikhnov-Vaytenko’s negative stance towards the war in Ukraine.
In a March post, Anna Mongait commented on talks between newly-elected US President Trump and Putin: “So, you’ve killed enough now? Is he really going to tell his loyal cannibals—let’s switch to a vegetarian diet?” the presenter wrote.
The final post cited in the case was published in May. In it, there is a screenshot promoting a Putin appearance, with journalists promising that the new statements “will blow up American prime time television.” Mongait added her own comment to the post: “How much more can we blow up!” Investigators claimed that with this remark, the presenter “emotionally negatively” evaluated the verb “blow up” in its literal rather than figurative sense.
Anna Mongait’s defence disagreed with the charges, stating that they violate civil rights protected by the Constitution and international treaties.
The case materials also include a statement from the Dozhd presenter herself:
“All the posts on my Telegram channel ‘Vsya takaya Mongayt’ mentioned in the accusation and, in the experts’ opinion, insulting to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, are based on real facts and reflect my attitude toward what is happening. I do not admit guilt, and I do not retract my words on air or on social media. I do not intend to justify myself.”
Witness statements were also read out in court. 19-year-old Aleksandr Shein and 20-year-old Sergey Obshchiy made similar claims in their interrogations. In essence, the young men said they found posts by Mongait on Telegram that they considered false, unacceptable, immoral, and illegal. Obshchiy also added that he compared the information in her posts with reports from the pro-Kremlin agencies RIA Novosti and TASS.