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The Southern District Military Court has fined 78-year-old Larisa Kuznetsova, an elderly woman from Stavropol Krai (a region in southern Russia), 320,000 roubles (approx. US$3,500) in a case of “justifying terrorism” (Part 2, Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code). The court informed OVD-Info of this decision.

The verdict was announced on 25 August.

The case against Kuznetsova was opened because of a comment she posted on VKontakte under a Mash news item about the arrest of Darya Trepova in the killing of propagandist Vladlen Tatarsky:

“Well done, Darya! Who recruited her is a question, but the result speaks for itself.”

  • On 2 April 2023, an explosion occurred at a café in St Petersburg where a meeting with pro-government war correspondent Vladlen Tatarsky was taking place. Tatarsky died and another 40 people were injured. Darya Trepova was soon detained in connection with the explosion. According to security officials, she brought a statuette containing an explosive device to the event on instructions from handlers in Ukraine. Trepova herself said she was convinced the statuette contained a listening device and a GPS tracker. She was charged with offences including carrying out a terrorist attack as part of a group (para “b,” part 3, article 205 of the Criminal Code), illegal trafficking in explosive devices (part 4, article 222.1), and document forgery (part 4, article 327). In January 2024, Trepova was sentenced to 27 years in a penal colony.