A resident of Nefteyugansk, a city in Western Siberia, has been given a six-month suspended sentence for three anti-war posts.

On 17 July, the Nefteyugansk District Court of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug—Yugra gave 36-year-old local resident Alexei Smirnov a six-month suspended sentence under charges of “discrediting the army” (Article 280.3, Part 1 of the Criminal Code). This was reported by the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs press service.

In addition, Smirnov has been banned for two years and six months from administering websites, channels or chats online.

The case was launched over three social media posts Smirnov made from February to August 2024. The specific content of those posts is unknown.

The case reached the court on 26 June and was heard in a single session.

In February 2024, the same court fined Smirnov 30,000 rubles (about US$325) under the administrative article on “discrediting the army” (Article 20.3.3, Part 1 of the Administrative Offences Code). The reason for this was a comment under a post about singer Shaman’s track “My Fight” on VKontakte, in which Smirnov compared the performer’s work with the militarist propaganda of the Nazis.