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The judge of the Verkh-Isetsky District Court in Yekaterinburg has sent back to the police the record relating to the charge of “discrediting the army” (part 1, article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code) drawn up against Vyacheslav Shmyrov, head of the Yeltsin Centre’s film club. This was reported by Mediazona.

The administrative case against the film expert was initiated because of a “No to war” post he published on Facebook on the second day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, 25 February 2022.

The record against Shmyrov was drawn up following a report by K.S. Zots, an officer from the Centre “E” of the Interior Ministry for Sverdlovsk Region. The judge returned it to the police as Shmyrov had not been notified of the “repeated drawing up of the record.”

Shmyrov did not plead guilty. His defence requested the case be closed, arguing that the word “war” is not “discrediting” and that even Vladimir Putin uses it to describe the situation in Ukraine. The lawyer also noted that a post on Facebook cannot be considered public as this social network is blocked in Russia.

On 20 August, the same judge, Ekaterina Geiger, fined Yeltsin Centre deputy director Lyudmila Telen 45,000 roubles (approximately US$500). A record was drawn up against her for reposting a publication by Boris Yeltsin’s daughter with the words: “No to war.” The administrative case against Telen for discrediting the army was launched following an appeal to the prosecutor’s office by State Duma deputy Mikhail Delyagin.

The Sestroretsk District Court of St Petersburg has sentenced local artist Alexey Kiryanov to 12 days’ administrative detention over two posts featuring Putin on VKontakte. RusNews reported this from the courtroom.

The 69-year-old artist was found guilty under the administrative article for inciting hatred or enmity (Article 20.3.1 of the Administrative Code). Kiryanov himself was not present at the hearing. When his defence lawyer Dinar Idrisov asked how detention could be ordered in the defendant’s absence, the judge replied: “We’ll put out a search warrant, and the defence lawyer will be held accountable for hiding him.”

The administrative case was opened in mid-June because of two posts from 2024.

The first post featured a photograph from the February 2012 “For Fair Elections” demonstration. The image shows St Petersburg activists dressed as vampires with a banner reading “Ghouls vote for Putin” in front of the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood. According to the case materials, experts from St Petersburg State University decided the photo contained elements “intended to incite hatred or enmity toward the social group ‘voters who support V. V. Putin.’”

The second post included a satirical drawing by artist Alyosha Stupin called “Shoigu’s Expulsion from Paradise,” which contains images of Vladimir Putin and Sergey Shoigu. According to the same experts, this picture aims to incite hatred towards members of the religious group “Christians,” as well as towards the group “non-Christians.”

“The conclusion was most likely written by an anonymous group of students. There are gross factual errors: it mixes up visual art genres (icon and folk print), attributes to Christianity such features as worshipping objects, and so on,” RusNews quoted linguist Elena Novozhilova’s review of the expert analysis. However, she was not allowed to participate in the hearing.

Alexey Kiryanov is an artist and painter, a member of the St Petersburg Union of Artists and the International Federation of Artists (IFA). According to information on Kiryanov’s official website, he has taken part in more than 120 exhibitions in Russia and abroad.

The Frunzensky District Court in Yaroslavl has fined former member of the Yaroslavl Regional Duma Vasily Tsependa five thousand roubles (approx. US$55) for reposting a publication by the association “Komitet‑2024.” This was reported by Mediazona.

The reason for the charge was a Facebook post in which “Komitet‑2024” announced an “indefinite international campaign in support of Ukraine.” The Prosecutor General’s Office declared the association an “undesirable organisation” in September 2023.

The repost for which Tsependa was prosecuted is dated 3 September 2024. The politician was previously a member of the “Congress of People’s Deputies”—an initiative created in analogy to the historical congress of the early 1990s. In October 2024, after a conflict with one of the organisers, Ilya Ponomarev, Tsependa’s name disappeared from the congress’s official website.

Vasily Tsependa was a regional lawmaker from 2015, previously headed the regional branch of the PARNAS party, and served as an aide to Boris Nemtsov. In 2016, he was fined 500 roubles (approx. US$5.50) for installing a plaque in memory of Nemtsov on a building in Yaroslavl, a city northeast of Moscow.

Moscow resident Aleksandra Manshina has been fined 200,000 roubles (approx. US$2,200) under the “LGBT propaganda” law on the internet (Part 3 of Article 6.21 of the Code of Administrative Offenses) because of two videos posted on VKontakte. OVD-Info discovered the rulings from the Babushkinsky District Court of Moscow dated 29 August (1, 2).

The reports on Manshina were compiled by staff from Centre “E.” According to them, the Moscow resident, under the pseudonym “Sasha V-Trusah-Prokhladno,” published a video on her VKontakte page with the title: “Red and Anarcho Skinheads Fight with Straight People to Total Victory” (original spelling retained).

The video, in which the line “Skinheads against prejudice, defending the city from Nazi bastards” is sung, features footage of men kissing and photos from anti-racist and anti-homophobia rallies.

In another video titled “Gay Skins Gay skinhead 88,” there are also shots of men hugging and kissing.

Aleksandra Manshina did not attend the hearings. In its rulings on the fines, the court noted that “the international public LGBT movement and its structural divisions have been recognised as extremist and their activities are prohibited in the territory of the Russian Federation.”

On 28 August, the Leninsky District Court in Omsk, a large city in Siberia, fined Dmitry Veliky, founder of the opposition Telegram channels Stop War Crime and Putin’s GULAG, in a case concerning participation in the activities of an “undesirable” organisation (under Article 20.33 of the Code of Administrative Offences). The court’s decision was noted by Mediazona.

The fine amounted to five thousand roubles (about US$55). The report against Veliky was drawn up in early August; he was not present at the hearing.

The case was prompted by four posts on the Stop War Crime channel, which contained links to the outlets “Meduza” and The Moscow Times (1, 2). The fourth post mentioned the media outlets The Insider and SOTA without hyperlinks. All these media outlets have been designated as “undesirable” in Russia.

In July of this year, the Ministry of Justice recognised Dmitry Veliky as a “foreign agent.”

On 26 August, the Izmailovsky District Court in Moscow fined the editor-in-chief of Meduza, Ivan Kolpakov, under the article concerning participation in the activities of an “undesirable” organisation (Article 20.33 of the Administrative Offences Code). This was reported by Mediazona.

Meduza was declared “undesirable” in Russia in January 2023. As evidence of Kolpakov’s involvement with the outlet, law enforcement cited his interview with the YouTube channel “Popular Politics.” The caption under the journalist’s image read “Editor-in-chief of Meduza.”

Another interview for the outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, given in 2021, was also regarded by the authorities as participation in the activity of an “undesirable” organisation. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty was declared as such in February 2024—three years after the video with Kolpakov was released.

The amount of the fine set by the court is not stated in the ruling.

In Bryansk Region, a history and social studies teacher was dismissed from her school due to anti-war statements, according to information on the website of the Navlinsky District Court.

A resident of the town of Navlya was dismissed from the Shcheglovskaya Secondary School for “repeated statements discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in connection with the special military operation.”

The teacher filed a lawsuit demanding to be reinstated at work and for the school to pay her her wages for the period of forced absence, as well as compensation for moral damages.

The court rejected the claim, ruling that the woman had not proved her dismissal was unlawful. In making its decision, the court took into account earlier rulings holding the teacher administratively liable under protocols for “discrediting the army” (part 1, article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences).

The rulings under the “discrediting” protocols were handed down by the same court. In April and May 2025, the woman was fined twice, each time 30,000 roubles (about US$330), for her posts on VKontakte, the Russian social network. The actual content of the posts was not given in the rulings, but it was specified that the statements were “aimed at discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation… and the actions of the Russian leadership in the course of the special military operation in Ukraine.”

The first time, the teacher did not attend court, but in May she was present at the hearing. She did not plead guilty and insisted that she was merely “expressing [her] opinion about the events taking place, was outraged by the killing of 9 people by soldiers, and commented on the Russian soldiers, not the Russian army.”

On 14 August, the founder of “Centre T,” Yan Dvorkin, was fined 200,000 roubles (approx. US$2,200) under the article on “LGBTQ ‘propaganda’” among minors via the internet (Part 4, Article 6.21 of the Administrative Code). The decision was published on the information portal of Moscow magistrate courts and was noted by “Ostorozhno, novosti” (“Attention, news”).

The grounds for the administrative case were a post on a Telegram channel dated 29 March, in which Dvorkin wrote about the importance of visibility for LGBTQ people’s experiences: “…I believe that we must use every opportunity that would help support LGBTQ people and the community that we may be. Any opportunity that gives more visibility to our experience. In spaces where it is safe to do so. At the very least, such visibility preserves the memory of what we are going through. About the ongoing repression, resistance practices, people’s experiences. All of this can become part of culture. Or it can disappear, as if it doesn’t matter. I think Putin’s gang would actually want this effect from their actions: for us to disappear, to be so afraid of visibility it terrifies us, for our main occupation to be hiding ourselves, our lives, our feelings and desires. And if there’s anywhere we can avoid hiding and speak out loud, I think we are obliged to do so.”

The court noted that the text was published without an “18+” age warning.

On 26 August, the activist was given another fine under a similar article; this decision has yet to be published.

A protocol has been drawn up against human rights defender and journalist Lutfiye Zudiyeva from occupied Crimea, accusing her of carrying out the activities of a “foreign agent” without being included in the “foreign agent” register (Part 1, Article 19.34 of the Administrative Code), reports Crimean Solidarity.

The protocol was issued by the Russian Ministry of Justice’s local office. The document lists Zudiyeva’s personal social media accounts as “political activity,” along with her sharing of OVD-Info materials on those accounts, articles and a podcast for the outlet Graty about women’s lives in Crimea, a publication in the US magazine Newsweek, an interview for CNN, and her membership in the Irish human rights organisation Front Line Defenders.

Zudiyeva was designated a “foreign agent” in May.

In February 2024, security forces conducted a “premises inspection” at her home, after which two protocols were drawn up against her for “abuse of freedom of mass information” (Article 13.15 of the Administrative Code). The first protocol was issued because of a Facebook post about the “Hizb ut-Tahrir” party that did not state it is designated as a terrorist organisation in Russia; the second was for a post about Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (“Radio Svoboda”) without noting it is a “foreign agent” media outlet. She was fined two and two-and-a-half thousand rubles (about US$22 and US$28), one of which was later overturned on appeal.

The director of the Khabarovsk Regional Children’s Library, Raisa Naumova, has been fined for mentioning a book published with the participation of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Mediazona reports this, drawing attention to the published court ruling.

The prosecutor’s office drew up a protocol for “participation in the activities of an ‘undesirable organisation’” (Article 20.33 of the Administrative Offences Code) because the library’s website featured an image of the book “Specially Protected Natural Areas of Khabarovsk Krai,” which was published with support from the WWF and the Department of Rosprirodnadzor for the Far Eastern Federal District.

Naumova told Mediazona that information about this book, which was published back in 2009, appeared on an old version of the library’s website, which is now inactive. “[The authorities] saw a small WWF logo there,” Naumova explained.

The director did not admit guilt and stated in her written arguments that the website did not publish the text of the book, only a brief description of its contents. There was no information about WWF’s activities on the library website. Judge Alexey Shatilov deemed Naumova’s arguments unfounded.

On 8 August, the Central District Court of Khabarovsk—one of the largest cities in Russia’s Far East—found the director guilty and fined her, as an official, 20,000 roubles (about US$220).

Speaking with Mediazona, Naumova called the incident “an absurd story.” She said she intended to “go to court,” as no methodological recommendations from the Ministry of Justice had been sent to the library.

“We cannot possibly foresee these situations,” she said. “I am deeply upset—I am a patriot, a community leader, the director of a legendary regional children’s library—and they are pinning this shameful article on us. I am devastated by this, I am very upset.”

Naumova is appealing the court’s decision in a higher court.

• The WWF was labelled “an undesirable organisation” in June 2023. Russia’s Prosecutor General accused the nature conservation organisation of “hindering the implementation of the country’s political course for industrial development of the Arctic.”

A case for “discrediting the army” (under Part 1, Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code) has been opened against Vyacheslav Shmyrov, film expert and head of the film club at the Yeltsin Centre. Today, the case was submitted to the Verkh-Isetsky District Court in Yekaterinburg, a major city in the Urals.

According to the court’s website, the hearing in this case is scheduled for 14:10 on 3 September.

The reason for the case remains unknown. “We hope that the court will be fair and will not side with the accusation outlined in the case file,” the Yeltsin Centre’s press office told Vecherneye Vedomosti.

Last week, both the film expert and the Yeltsin Centre were targeted by the “UralLive” Telegram channel, which is linked to propagandist Vladimir Solovyov, for film screenings involving Shmyrov on 22 and 23 August.

First, “UralLive” posted screenshots of anti-war posts by the film expert. The channel then described the invitation of Shmyrov as a breach of agreements on the part of the Yeltsin Centre—earlier, TASS reported that the organisation had promised local authorities not to invite people who had publicly condemned the war in Ukraine.

After these posts, informers from the pro-government “Zov naroda” movement demanded that the Investigative Committee launch an inquiry into Shmyrov.

On the evening of 22 August, the same Telegram channel reported that law enforcement officers came to the Yeltsin Centre during an event involving the film expert and served him a police summons to prepare the case protocol.

IT specialist Marat Galiakberov from Kazan has been fined 5,000 rubles (about US$55) under the article on “cooperation with an undesirable organisation” (Article 20.33 of the Code of Administrative Offences), reports Mediazona.

The reason was a conversation on Twitter with political activist Mikhail Pletnev, who emigrated from Russia and is considered by the authorities to be connected to the Free Russia Foundation.

“I think about a year and a half ago I sent a private message to Pletnev about the harassment of an opposition-minded young woman and attached a screenshot of her account. That’s what I was fined for,” Galiakberov said.

According to Galiakberov, in June FSB officers visited him. They said they were conducting a seizure but did not provide a copy of the warrant. His computer, phone and USB sticks were confiscated, and he unlocked them himself. A few days later, his devices were returned.

Galiakberov says he has never published opposition statements or taken part in political activities.

The online platform Mangalib, which publishes Japanese comics in the genres of manga, manhwa, and manhua in Russian, has been fined 14 million rubles (about US$155,000) under seven charges of “LGBT propaganda” (part 3, article 6…). This was reported by Mediazona. The decision was issued by the Tagansky District Court in Moscow.

The cases involved seven works published on the platform’s website: “Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie,” “Banana Fish,” “Reincarnation in the Colosseum,” “Immaculate Sin 2,” “For Two,” “The Beast—a Partner for Kodokuri Seikatsu,” and “Fujoshi Haru-chan Loves to Drink.” For each publication, the court imposed a fine of 2 million rubles (about US$22,000).

Roskomnadzor, acting as the prosecution, claimed that the manga depicted male characters with romantic feelings for each other. According to the agency, “Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie” represents “a cultural threat to the national security of the Russian Federation in the part concerning protection of traditional values.” In “Reincarnation in the Colosseum,” a Roskomnadzor representative told the court there is “a harem of defeated girls, specifically involving embracing, kissing, sex, including group sex.”

The defence attempted to contest only one charge, related to the manga “Fujoshi Haru-chan Loves to Drink.” Lawyer Konstantin Popov, representing Mangalib, pointed out that the manga cover depicts not two men but a man and a woman.

Popov also insisted that the platform fulfils all requests from Roskomnadzor and strives to moderate its content.

Previously, Mangalib project manager Ivan Kvast was also fined under “LGBT propaganda” charges for 400,000 and 600,000 rubles (about US$4,500 and US$6,700).

Nikita S., a student at Moscow Technical University of Communications and Informatics (MTUCI), has been fined under the article on displaying prohibited symbols (Part 1, Article 20.3 of the Administrative Code) for a gif featuring a swastika, according to “Ostorozhno, novosti.”

The outlet does not specify which court issued the ruling. The amount of the fine is unknown.

At the beginning of July, an administrative protocol was drawn up against Nikita S. because of a message sent in January 2024 to one of the student group chats. At that time, he wrote: “The group is going to the consultation” and attached a gif taken from the computer game Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, which shows soldiers marching in uniforms bearing the coat of arms of Nazi Germany. The game depicts an alternative version of events from the Second World War, in which the Nazis have managed to capture the United States.

The student did not plead guilty and stated that he sent the gif “to show his negative attitude towards Nazism.”

“Ostorozhno, novosti” notes that officers from the Centre for Combating Extremism (Centre “E”) established the alleged offence two weeks after the ultra-right movement “Russian Community” accused MTUCI students of promoting Nazism. The accusations were triggered by several messages from students making jokes about topics related to Nazism and Hitler. Among them was Nikita S.’s message.

“There is open propaganda of Nazism in the student group chats, teachers are being given the names of the most brutal Nazi criminals who killed women and children in concentration camps, they approve the horrors of the Holocaust, incite interethnic hatred, and publicly insult members of the authorities,” the movement claimed.

At that time, the “Russian Community” asked law enforcement to look into this information.

The magistrate of Judicial District No. 65 of the Proletarsky District Court in Tula has closed the case against Evgeny Malyugin, a member of the local branch of the “Rassvet” party. This was reported by the “Crime 6.21” project.

In April this year, Malyugin was fined 100,000 roubles (about US$1,100) under the law on “LGBT propaganda” (Part 3, Article 6.21 of the Code of Administrative Offences). The case was triggered by some joking photos of the young man with his friends posted on a Telegram channel.

On 10 August, the appeal court sent Malyugin’s case back for reconsideration. On 12 August, the magistrate judge issued a ruling to discontinue proceedings.

At the end of February this year, Evgeny Malyugin was detained by law enforcement officers. In addition to the charge of “LGBT propaganda,” he was also accused of “discrediting the army” (Part 1, Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences).

The protocol was triggered by a post on the Telegram channel “Tula Headquarters” about the August 1991 coup. Police found “discreditation” in the sentence: “That night, four women-defenders of the Tula House of Soviets picketed the headquarters of the Tula 106th Airborne Division (the very same 106th, which is now senselessly spilling blood on foreign soil).” In the view of law enforcement, this sentence meant that Malyugin had “undermined trust in the conduct of the special military operation.”

For this case, the court fined Malyugin 40,000 roubles (about US$440).

• The “Rassvet” party was founded in 2024 by former presidential candidate Ekaterina Duntsova. She said that her party is against the war, supports democratic reforms, and seeks to repeal laws that violate the rights of Russian citizens, such as the “foreign agents” law. In May 2024, Duntsova herself was added to the “foreign agents” list.

The Kurgan City Court has fined a local resident one thousand roubles (approximately US$11) for posting an image of Satan online. This was reported by RIA Novosti.

The man was found guilty under the article on displaying the symbols of an extremist organisation (Article 20.3 of the Administrative Offences Code). “The Kurgan resident was summoned to court for publishing an image of Satan, which has recently been recognised as extremist,” quoted URA.RU from a source in law enforcement.

It is believed that the case concerns Vladislav Pylkov, whose case file under this article has been published on the Kurgan City Court website.

Pylkov is a beauty pageant founder and organiser of a multi-championship event for beauty professionals in Kurgan, a city in the Urals. On 15 August—the day of the court’s decision—he wrote on his VKontakte page that he had been detained, taken to the police, and then to court.

“I wanted to start a new chapter in the city—to bring famous people here so that locals could meet them in person and not just see them on TV. But unfortunately, some people are not pleased with the success of others. Extremism accusations out of nowhere—a design mistake became a reason for harassment,” Pylkov wrote.

On 17 August, URA.RU reported that Tatiana Larina, a star of ‘Battle of the Psychics,’ was due to come to Kurgan for a children’s beauty contest, but her visit was cancelled. “As the organiser of the children’s beauty contest ‘Miss Beauty Kurgan,’ I was put under pressure. I was forced to call Larina and cancel her appearance at our event,” URA.RU quoted Pylkov as saying.

In July, the Supreme Court of Russia designated the “international Satanism movement” as an extremist organisation. According to the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, “followers of the cult, which is based on hatred and hostility towards traditional religious denominations,” allegedly call “for the destruction of Orthodox shrines, reject social norms, justify neo-Nazi ideas, and commit ritual and other crimes.”

The Krasnaya Stroka Book Festival in Yekaterinburg, a major city in the Urals, has removed St Petersburg’s Ivan Limbakh Publishing House from its programme. This was reported by It’s My City.

According to journalists, the publisher’s books were excluded after accreditation, agreements and the shipment of copies to the festival had already taken place.

The festival’s director, Evgeny Gorenburg, stated:

“Ivan Limbakh Publishing House was not admitted. We are really hoping for authors’ self-censorship. It’s a pity they don’t understand this.”

Meanwhile, the publisher’s CEO, Alexandra Trofimova, pointed out that she had not received any official explanation from the festival organisers.

“We were simply informed that there was an order from above. No reason was given. This happened at the last moment, when our staff member and books were already in Yekaterinburg. If previously we had some issues with organisers of other festivals, they would usually get in touch with questions and we’d solve them,” Trofimova noted.

She also explained to OVD-Info—in response to reporters’ questions about whether the books were removed due to the authors being labelled “foreign agents”—that:

“Right now we are not publishing any books by ‘foreign agents.’ We had one book from 2011, which has long since sold out, and another still on sale—which we will remove from 1 September. Both books were published long before the author was designated a ‘foreign agent.’”

On 1 September, a ban comes into effect, prohibiting “foreign agents” from engaging in educational activities. Although the law does not clarify what constitutes educational activity and there is no explicit ban on distributing works by “foreign agents,” bookshops and publishers fear the rule will be interpreted in a “repressive” manner.

In June this year, the Russian Book Union issued a bulletin saying that, due to tighter legislation, books by authors, translators or illustrators labelled as “foreign agents” now pose a heightened risk for bookshops. The union recommended removing from sale any books by “foreign agents” who are wanted, convicted in absentia under criminal charges, or included in the Rosfinmonitoring register.

This month, the educational platform Arzamas restricted access to materials by anthropologist Alexandra Arkhipova on its website. Meanwhile, the publishing house New Literary Observer, Moscow’s Falanster bookshop and St Petersburg’s Word Order announced a sale of “foreign agent” books. Ivan Limbakh Publishing House has also posted that such titles will be “involuntarily withdrawn from sale.”

This article has been modified. The words of Alexandra Trofimova, which were a paraphrase of her comment by another publication, have been removed. OVD-Info apologises for the error.

A protocol for “LGBT propaganda” (Part 1 Art. 6.21 of the Administrative Code) has been issued against the Kaup Centre for Historical Reenactment over photographs showing dildos and women kissing. This was reported by the outlet Mediazona.

The administrative case has been filed with Zelenogradsky District Court in Kaliningrad Region. In addition, another protocol was issued against the centre—this time for “LGBT propaganda” online (Part 3 Art. 6.21 of the Administrative Code).

The reenactment project, also called “Viking Settlement ‘Kaup,’” is located in the village of Romanovo in Zelenogradsky District, Kaliningrad Region (in western Russia near the Baltic Sea). In a conversation with Mediazona about the protocols, an administrator for the project said: “That’s not like them” and “Honestly, it’s utter nonsense.”

The press service of the Kaliningrad Ministry of Internal Affairs told the outlet that both cases were initiated because of photographs found on the “Viking Settlement’s” social media pages.

“In short, they have a room with paraphernalia…dildos and so on,” Mediazona quotes a press officer. “Not just one [dildo], as it should be [lots of dildos]… And pictures from this room were posted on [Kaup’s] social media. Regarding the last protocol, as I was told, there was specifically a photo of two women kissing, with all this paraphernalia in the background.”

The settlement also regularly hosts costume shows called “Night Kaup” that have an “18+” age restriction. Mediazona notes that in 2023, the pro-government movement “The People’s Call” complained to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Kaliningrad Region about the “Night of Spirits” show. Activists claimed the event contributed to “the spread of extremely dangerous neopaganism in these times” and promoted occultism.

16:20 Anastasia Tarasova, head of the Kaup Centre for Historical Reenactment, said that the protocol for the centre’s legal entity was drawn up over a party which the centre itself did not organise, but which was held on its premises.

“On the territory of the ‘Kaup’ settlement in 2025, an event called ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’ was held, organised by a sole proprietor who rented the venue under a contract. As part of the event, the tenant set up a ‘BDSM’ photo area, which appeared in promotional materials and on a separate ‘Night Kaup’ website. According to the tenant, this photo area was meant as a humorous entertainment feature and had nothing to do with LGBT propaganda,” she told Mediazona.

Tarasova added that the centre “will defend its legal position.”

The deputy director of the Yeltsin Centre, Lyudmila Telen, has been fined 45,000 roubles (approx. US$500) for reposting a message with the words “No to war,” which was published by Boris Yeltsin’s daughter, Tatyana Yumasheva, on Facebook on 25 February 2022. This was reported by “Vecherniye Vedomosti.”

Telen was charged under the article on discrediting the Russian Armed Forces (Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). The hearing at the Verkh-Isetsky District Court in Yekaterinburg, a major city in the Urals, was due to take place on 26 August, but was postponed to today. The deputy director of the Yeltsin Centre herself was not present at the hearing.

As lawyer Mikhail Biryukov, representing Telen’s interests, told OVD-Info, the date was changed because “otherwise the statute of limitations would have expired.”

“From the moment the offence is registered, [the case] can be considered within 90 days. Today is the 92nd day,” Biryukov explained.

In court, he also requested the case be moved to Moscow, where the deputy director of the Yeltsin Centre lives. Moreover, Telen had shared Yumasheva’s post while in Moscow. In the lawyer’s view, the case should be heard at the place where the alleged offence occurred—that is, in the capital. The court rejected these motions.

When the OVD-Info journalist remarked that, in that case, the protocol could have been drawn up against Telen in any other Russian region, and the case heard there as well, Biryukov replied:

“Since the Yeltsin Centre is located in Yekaterinburg and this [case against Telen] is part of the attack on it, [it] is being considered here.”

The lawyer added:

“It is unlikely [this attack] will lead to the [closure of the Yeltsin Centre], since it was established by presidential decree, but it could lead to a change in policy direction. The purpose of this pressure is unclear to us.”

Igor Koptev, a resident of Zlatoust in Chelyabinsk Region (a city in the Urals), was sentenced to 10 days' arrest under the article on inciting hatred or enmity (Art. 20.3.1 of the Administrative Code) over a poster about the police and Putin. This was reported by the Sova research centre.

According to a court ruling on 8 August, it is stated that on 22 June, Koptev attended a memorial event dedicated to the start of the Great Patriotic War. The event took place at the Glory Memorial, attended by around 150 people.

Koptev brought with him a poster which, according to his explanation, “included inscriptions expressing a negative assessment of the security forces and the President of the Russian Federation.”

“He displayed the poster so everyone present could see it. In this way, he wanted to communicate his position regarding the president and members of law enforcement bodies,” the court ruling says.

The local FSB branch took an interest in the poster. Security officers determined that “the poster expressed a negative assessment of a group of people united by professional activity—the police.”

The court considered that holding Igor Koptev accountable under the incitement to hatred article “does not violate [his] right to freedom of expression and freedom of speech,” but rather “violates the rights and freedoms of other individuals.”

Three first-year students at the Stroganov Moscow State Academy of Arts and Industry have been expelled after Orthodox activists reported a TikTok video showing them dancing near the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. This was reported by Groza, citing one of its readers.

On 2 June, the “Sorok Sorokov” movement drew attention to a TikTok post featuring three young women dancing in front of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in central Moscow. The video was apparently filmed at the end of May. Orthodox activists posted about it in their Telegram channel, which has 12,000 subscribers, and urged supporters to send appeals to the Investigative Committee requesting that the women be prosecuted under criminal law.

According to Groza, on 5 June, a Stroganov Academy lecturer wrote in a student chat that the “incident with the students” had been discussed at a faculty council. The lecturer claimed that, because of the “video of the dance in provocative clothing in front of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour,” a court handed the women a sentence of 11 years of corrective labour for criminal insult of religious feelings (Article 148 of the Criminal Code). After this, the students were expelled.

“Please, watch your behaviour and do not let your life be ruined because of stupidity,” the lecturer wrote to the other students.

However, in July, “Sorok Sorokov” published a response from the Moscow Central Administrative District police department, stating that the students had been held administratively liable for petty hooliganism (Article 20.1 of the Administrative Offences Code). The response also indicates the young women were detained two days after Orthodox activists called for reports to be sent in. There is no mention in the document of a criminal case against them.

16:20 The press service at the Stroganov Academy confirmed the expulsion of the students after the dance near the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, RIA Novosti reports.

“All three first-year students from the Department of Artistic Interior Design have been expelled from the student body by decision of the Stroganov Academy’s Academic Council for violation of public order and insulting the religious feelings of citizens,” reads the university’s statement. They consider the students’ behaviour to be incompatible with the status of a state university student.

The protocol was drawn up over a post in Vaganov’s Telegram channel “Khrenogubka,” dedicated to the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, and a photograph captioned “make love, not war.” Both posts were published on 17 May of this year.

As Vaganov explained on his Telegram channel, an expert commission of three people concluded that the posts contain “linguistic and psychological features of information” which they said promote queer relationships.

According to the experts, the publications persuade readers “of the attractiveness of gay relationships and form a positive image of people in gay relationships” and “are shaping a distorted idea of the social equivalence of ‘traditional’ and ‘non-traditional’ relationships.” They also claimed the posts contain “signs of a sociocultural threat to the security” of Russia.

The protocol was submitted to the justice of the peace for Court District No. 178 in Pushkinsky District, St Petersburg, on 17 July. The case was considered over two hearings.

Vadim Vaganov is an LGBTQ activist from St Petersburg, a participant in opposition and anti-war rallies, and a former candidate for municipal deputy. In November 2024, the Ministry of Justice added him to the list of “foreign agents.” In July this year, the activist reported that someone threw a stone with the inscription “foreign agent” through his window.

A protocol has been drawn up against the founder and chief editor of MOST.media, Olga Proskurnina, for “LGBT propaganda” among minors (part 4 of article 6.21 of the Code of Administrative Offences), reports the Telegram channel “Crime 6.21.”

According to them, the reason was an article describing the lives of queer people in contemporary Russia and the censorship in culture, which affects almost any mention of LGBTQ+ individuals.

The protocol was submitted to Magistrates' Court District No. 374 in Moscow on 12 August. The hearing is scheduled for 10 September.

MOST.media brings together writers and editors who previously worked at the outlet Republic.

On 11 August, the Slavyansky District Court of Krasnodar Krai fined Anton Petrenko, a 39-year-old resident of the village of Baranikovsky, one thousand roubles (approx. US$11) for petty hooliganism (Article 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences). This was reported by “7×7” citing the press service of the regional courts.

The day before, Petrenko was detained by FSB officers and a local police officer. Law enforcement’s attention was drawn because, while celebrating his birthday, he sang along to a Ukrainian-language song about how Ukrainians are “an unconquered people” who will never forgive and will never surrender to the “accursed Moskals.”

The local Telegram channel “ChP Krasnodar” published a video from the 10 August celebration. The same post included a video of Petrenko apologising while holding an icon. Another apology video was published by the press service of the Krasnodar Krai Ministry of Internal Affairs.

“We were celebrating a birthday, just singing along with whatever songs were playing on the speaker. We didn’t plan anything unusual, we didn’t mean to offend anyone. On the contrary, we support Russia, everyone there has brothers, relatives, all serving,” Petrenko said in the police video.

Additionally, the Ministry of Internal Affairs claims that Petrenko is being investigated under the administrative article on “discrediting” the army (Part 1, Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). According to “7×7,” no protocol on this article has yet been submitted to the Slavyansky District Court.

A 33-year-old resident of Yaroslavl, Viktoria B., has been fined 1,000 roubles (about US$11) for comparing the new uniform standard in Russian schools to Hitler’s military attire. This was reported by “Ostorozhno, Novosti” (“Careful, News”).

In early August, a court found the woman guilty of displaying Nazi symbols (Part 1, Article 20.3 of the Administrative Offences Code). According to the court, she left a comment in the “Zhest Yaroslavl” (“Hardcore Yaroslavl”) public group. The post stated that from 1 July, a new standard for school uniforms would be introduced across Russia, and recommended placing patriotic symbols on the clothing.

“No clue why, but the second outfit just gave me Hitler vibes,” wrote Viktoria B. under an illustration accompanying the news, attaching a picture of Hitler.

In court, the woman admitted her guilt and expressed remorse, which was recognised as a mitigating factor in the case. She was also ordered to delete her comment under the post.

Four protocols were drawn up against Lyubarev and four against 'Honest Elections', all under articles related to failure to provide information to the Ministry of Justice (part 2, article 19.34 of the Code of Administrative Offences).

Arkady Lyubarev was added to the 'foreign agent' register in September 2021. However, in April 2022, the Ministry of Justice removed him from the list. This was the first such decision in Russia. Lyubarev described the decision as 'lawful'.

'The argument I presented [in court] was that I had not received funds from foreign sources for over a year. That is both necessary and sufficient, I would say, ' Lyubarev, the co-founder of 'Golos', commented at the time.

It is unknown why the current protocols have been drawn up against Arkady Lyubarev, given his removal from the 'foreign agent' register.

Honest Elections LLC was set up by regional coordinators of the 'Golos' movement in 2021, after the Ministry of Justice named them as 'foreign agents'.

After the movement’s co-chair Grigory Melkonyants was sentenced in May this year to five years in prison on charges of running an 'undesirable' organisation (part 3, article 284.1 of the Criminal Code), 'Golos' announced that it was ceasing operations and shutting down all its regional branches.

'In this [Melkonyants sentencing] text, the court effectively equates “Golos” with the designated undesirable organisation ENEMO, which has never observed or carried out any activity in Russia, ' the organisation said in a statement.

• The court found Grigory Melkonyants guilty of organising the activities in Russia of the European Network of Election Monitoring Organisations (ENEMO), which was declared 'undesirable' in 2021. Investigators and the court considered that the “Golos” movement was a structural unit of ENEMO.
• “Golos,” however, denied this. They explained that the founder of ENEMO was the “Golos” Association, which effectively stopped operating after it was declared a 'foreign agent' in 2013, and was officially liquidated in 2020. The “Golos” movement created in 2013 did not join ENEMO and was not a founder of it. Melkonyants led this movement specifically.

The Shuya City Court in Ivanovo region has dropped the case against local activist and candidate of historical sciences Vladimir Vozilov, who had previously been charged with ‘discrediting the army’ (part 1 of article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code). His lawyer, Oskar Cherdzhiev, shared the news on Telegram stories.

The judge closed the case due to the expiry of the statute of limitations for prosecution.

Vozilov was accused of discrediting the army over his posts on VKontakte titled ‘Who fired? ’ and ‘Changed goals of the special military operation,’ as well as a comment under a post entitled ‘Delayed response.’ These posts and comments discussed either the war in Ukraine or related events in Ivanovo region.

These charges accused Kvast of “LGBT propaganda” online among adults (part 3, Article 6.21 of the Administrative Offences Code). The court reviewed them on 29 July and 4 August. Each resulted in a fine of 200,000 roubles. The cases were brought in connection with the manga “Fujoshi Haru-chan Likes to Drink,” “Banana Fish,” and “Reincarnation in the Colosseum.”

In June, Kvast was fined 400,000 roubles (about US$4,440) under the article for “LGBT propaganda” among minors (part 4, Article 6.21 of the Administrative Offences Code). That case involved the manga “Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie.”

Kvast did not attend the court sessions. At present, the manga referred to in the court rulings are not accessible via the provided links.

On 14 August, the court will review three more similar charges against Kvast (1, 2, 3), and four more on 20 August (1, 2, 3, 4).

Previously, it was reported that ten such charges had reached the court since the start of summer—that number has now reached 11.

Furthermore, since the beginning of July, another 11 charges of “LGBT propaganda” have been filed with the Tagansky District Court—these have been drawn up against the legal entity “Mangalib.” On 25 August, the court will consider four of these (1, 2, 3, 4).

“Mangalib” is an online platform and mobile app where people can read comics in the genres of manga, manhwa, and manhua in Russian.

On appeal, the court decided that the offence had not been proven and terminated the case.

Prokopyeva clarified that the first-instance court had based its decision on the findings of an expert report, which alleged incitement of hatred on professional grounds because of the phrase: “eshniki are the bottom of the police system.” However, the appeal court judge ruled that a professional group is not equivalent to a social group. The article Prokopyeva was charged under refers only to social groups.

Initially, the Kurchatovsky District Court in Chelyabinsk sentenced Prokopyeva to 40 hours of compulsory community service.

The protocol against the student was prompted by a post about abuse and violence she had experienced in the police station last autumn. She had been detained on suspicion of putting up “extremist leaflets.” It was later established that she had not put up the leaflets, but in fact had torn one of them down.

The Oktyabrsky District Court in Barnaul—a major city in Siberia—considered the case back on 21 April. The reason was a post in Sakharov’s Telegram channel “My Cat is 13 Years Old,” published in January.

At the time, the activist shared a fragment from the “Conversations about Important Things” teaching materials, which stated that teachers should tell schoolchildren that participants in the war in Ukraine are “defenders of the Fatherland” who are “continuing the glorious and noble work of our ancestors—warriors who have always stood up to defend their homeland and its people.”

Commenting on this fragment, Sakharov called the current Russian army an occupying force. He wrote that the Russian military had brought a great deal of pain and destruction to Ukraine, and that “children are being indoctrinated with the idea that a Russian soldier is always a hero, no matter what. Whether they are defending their own country or going to seize someone else’s land—it doesn’t seem to matter anymore.”

The activist said that in February, police called him and invited him to the station to draw up the protocol. Recently, he was informed that the Federal Bailiffs Service had initiated enforcement proceedings to collect the fine.

In November 2024, Sakharov left Russia due to threats of criminal prosecution. Prior to that, he had been prosecuted three times under the article for violation of public assembly rules (Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code) because of his anti-war protests and for laying flowers at a monument to victims of political repression after the death of politician Alexei Navalny.

Pavel Plakhin, a resident of Omsk, a major city in southwestern Siberia, has been sentenced to 40 hours of compulsory community service for a comment on Telegram deemed to “incite hatred” (Article 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences) towards United Russia. The decision was handed down on 25 July by the Leninsky District Court of Omsk, according to the court, and reported by the outlet “Ostorozhno, Novosti” (source).

According to the court, he posted the following comment on Telegram: “We need to set fire to the Kremlin, the White House, all the places where those f***ing United Russia members are sitting.”

The specialist who conducted the analysis of the comment told the court that the message contained “incitement to destructive actions by carrying out arson attacks on buildings where members of the United Russia party could potentially be located,” as well as “an assertion of the need to carry out such actions.”

The court concluded that Plakhin’s statement was aimed at “humiliating the dignity” of “United Russia.” He admitted guilt.

Alexei Navalny’s book Patriot was declared extremist for “inciting hatred towards the current authorities,” reports Mediazona, citing an order published by the Leningrad Regional Court.

Kingisepp customs officers found the book in the luggage of Alexei Mikhailov, who was crossing the border checkpoint at Ivangorod from Estonia into Russia. He was named as a defendant in the case, but did not appear in court.

The deputy head of customs sent the book for analysis to the expert forensic service in Nizhny Novgorod. There, they found not only hatred towards the current authorities but also “signs of information that could harm the political or economic interests of the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union, their national security, and the health and morality of citizens.” The customs authorities’ case was heard on 9 June,

The Ministry of Education and Science has banned students at Russian universities from keeping books by “foreign agent” writers Boris Akunin and Dmitry Bykov in their dormitories. A photo of an information letter addressed to university heads was published by Akunin himself and noted by the outlet Groza. The document was signed by the acting director of the Department of State Youth Policy and Educational Activities, Denis Savenkov.

The reasons why students are not allowed to keep Akunin’s and Bykov’s books are not explained in the letter. The Ministry only stated that universities should inform students of the ban “in order to create safe conditions for learning and living in dormitories.”

Denis Savenkov also asked university and admissions staff to “conduct awareness-raising work” to inform students and prospective students of the ban on keeping the books.

13:46 The press service of the Ministry of Education and Science denies that the letter published by Akunin is authentic. A ministry representative told Kommersant:

“The Ministry of Education and Science of Russia is not involved with this letter and, accordingly, did not send it to educational institutions. It is worth noting that this fake has appeared in the information space before, but due to its obvious absurdity, it did not gain traction,” the press service stated.

A source for journalists within the Ministry of Education and Science commented on the letter’s publication: “Such a scam is very much in the spirit of the Fandorin novels [referring to Akunin’s detective hero].”

16:01 Belarusian prankster Vladislav Bokhan wrote that the fake document about the ban on Akunin’s and Bykov’s books in Russian university dorms was released by his “partner from previous stunts.”

According to Bokhan, this was done “in order to test the sensitivity of the higher education system.”

“So just know, we’ve moved beyond schools,” wrote the prankster.

Vladislav Bokhan is an activist from Minsk, known for his pranks targeting schools in Russia and Belarus.

In November 2024, on behalf of a United Russia party member, he sent out a demand to schools that students learn to make tin foil hats “to protect themselves from enemy irradiation by NATO satellites.” Some teachers sent Bokhan photo and video reports in response.

In June 2022, the activist demanded that schoolteachers in Klin, a town near Moscow, take part in a Saturday clean-up day under the slogan “Work sets you free.” This slogan was used in concentration camps during the Second World War. Bokhan was also sent a photo report afterward.

• In mid-July, a court sentenced Boris Akunin in absentia to 14 years in prison and a fine of 400,000 roubles (approximately US$4,500) on charges of justifying terrorism (part 2, article 205.2 of the Criminal Code), aiding it (part 1, article 205.1), and failing to comply with “foreign agent” obligations (part 2, article 330.1). Akunin was declared a “foreign agent” in January 2024.
• After the start of the war in Ukraine, theatres began cancelling performances based on Akunin’s plays, and bookstores started removing his works from sale. The publishing house Zakharov, which published Akunin’s books, was also searched.
• The Ministry of Justice entered Dmitry Bykov into the “foreign agents” register in July 2022. In April this year, it emerged that he had been charged with spreading “fake news” about the Russian army out of hatred (para. “d” part 2, article 207.3) and failing to comply with “foreign agent” obligations (part 2, article 330.1). In mid-July, the Interior Ministry put Bykov on a wanted list.

In Russia, the website of the Arctida project, which specialises in the Russian Arctic, has been blocked by order of the Prosecutor General’s Office. This was reported on the organisation’s Telegram channel.

The reasons for the block are unknown. In 2022, the project’s director, Ilya Shumanov, was added to the register of “foreign agents.” In 2024, he was declared wanted in a criminal case for failing to fulfil the obligations of a “foreign agent.”

“Our initiatives in the fields of climate finance transparency, ensuring effective governance principles in the Arctic region, and the protection and advancement of the rights of Indigenous peoples of the North are aimed at promoting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and contributing to building a sustainable future for the Arctic,” states the Arctida website.

Ivan Apostolevsky, a member of the Legislative Assembly of Leningrad Oblast and leader of the Communist Party (KPRF) faction, has been jailed for seven days under the article on promoting the symbols of an extremist organisation (Article 20.3 of the Administrative Code). This was reported by RIA Novosti, citing the regional courts’ press service.

Apostolevsky was detained yesterday, 29 July, at Moscow Railway Station in St Petersburg while returning from a work trip to China. The reason for the prosecution was his posts about Navalny from 2017. The deputy denies having written anything about the politician on social media.

1 August Details emerged regarding the specific reason for Apostolevsky’s arrest. An explanation appeared on the KPRF website, which was noted by the Telegram channel “Govorit NeMoskva.”

The charge of promoting extremist symbols against the deputy did indeed stem from a publication about Alexey Navalny. The post included the cover of the communist youth newspaper LKSМ “Fonar” (“Lantern”), which featured a photo of Navalny. In his post, Apostolevsky also sharply criticised Navalny’s activities, using Lenin’s assessments of liberalism.

“Navalny appears on the cover of the newspaper ‘Fonar’—that’s true. But his photo is part of a larger image that includes accompanying text. So what does this text say? Is it in support of Navalny? Not at all—quite the opposite. Moreover, a person’s photo and the depiction of a symbol are, after all, different things, aren’t they?” commented Dmitry Novikov, chair of the KPRF Central Committee, on the situation.

On the page of the Leningrad Oblast branch of the KPRF, it was also reported that on 1 August the regional court rejected Apostolevsky’s appeal against his arrest.

Alexei Navalny’s book “Patriot” has been added to the list of “extremist” materials. This information appeared on the Ministry of Justice’s website.

On 8 July, the Noyabrsk City Court (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District/Okrug) fined local resident Aleksandr Farafonov 30,000 roubles (approx. US$330) over five posts on VKontakte under the protocol for “discrediting the army” (Art. 20.3.3, Part 1 of the Code of Administrative Offences). The independent outlet Verstka drew attention to the court ruling.

One of the posts was published by Farafonov in July 2022. According to the ruling, the post contained an image with the caption “I love Putin,” “in which a commonly recognised symbol expressing emotion is disguised as the Ukrainian flag.”

Farafonov himself told Verstka that the post in question showed a photo of the “I love Putin” monument with a heart painted in the colours of the Russian flag. Media outlets had previously reported that, when illuminated, the heart would display the colours of the Ukrainian flag.

The protocol also cited other posts: about the death of Alexei Navalny, an image of a toilet “styled with AI to look like a portrait of Putin,” and a photograph of a soldier wearing a patch of the ‘Russian Volunteer Complex’ or “something like that.”

On 11 July, the Komsomolsky District Court in Tolyatti, a city on the Volga River, fined a local woman 30,000 roubles (approx. US$330) under the law on “discrediting the army” (part 1, article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). The outlet Idel.Realii drew attention to the court decision.

The administrative offence report was filed over a comment to a news story titled “It’s very nice to receive words of thanks from our fighters,” which the elderly woman posted in mid-February. “People, what are you talking about, contract soldiers are not fighters, they’re hired killers, and you are accomplices,” she wrote.

An expert analysis concluded that the elderly woman had described the actions of Russian military personnel “as being linked to killing for money” and gave a negative assessment of them, calling them murderers.

The elderly woman admitted her guilt and expressed remorse. She added that she had posted the comment “without thinking, foolishly,” and promised not to do so again. She also deleted the comment.

The Tolyatti resident added that she receives a pension of 15,500 roubles (approx. US$170) and has no other income. She lives in a rented flat and does not work because there are no suitable jobs for her age near her home. Her son helps her financially.

St Petersburg activist and journalist for the publication “Parni+” Vadim Vaganov said on 29 July that a stone with the word “foreign agent” written on it was thrown through the window of his flat.

“The situation is serious. Today I was called and told that a stone with the word ‘foreign agent’ was thrown through the window of my flat. The windows are broken,” Vaganov writes.

That same day, he learned that his mother had taken ill and was taken to hospital as a result.

On 22 November 2024, the Ministry of Justice added Vaganov to the list of “foreign agents.” For several years, the activist headed “Youth Yabloko” in St Petersburg, and in 2019 ran in the municipal elections in Pushkin. In 2022, Vaganov came out after the Russian Supreme Court’s decision to ban the so-called “International LGBT Social Movement,” which does not actually exist.

Since the beginning of the summer, Magistrates’ Court No. 374 in Tagansky District, Moscow, has received 10 protocols against Ivan Kvast under the “LGBT propaganda” article (Art. 6.21 of the Administrative Code). Mediazona drew attention to this.

Kvast was fined under three protocols on 26 June and 29 July (1, 2, 3), and one of these decisions has already been published. In the court document, Kvast, a Moscow resident, is described as a project manager for “Mangaliba.” This particular protocol was issued over a comic about “the young revolutionary Utena,” for which he was fined 400,000 roubles (about US$4,400). The outcome of the other two protocols is unknown.

Seven out of the ten protocols were received by the court on 29 July, and two more on 2 July.

This summer, four protocols were also drawn up against the legal entity “MangaLiba” for “LGBT propaganda” (1, 2, 3, 4). All of them are scheduled for review on 25 August, with 10 minutes allocated for each case, according to the case records.

“MangaLib” is an online platform and mobile app where users can read comics in the manga, manhwa and manhua genres in Russian. In June, the service gained a new co-owner: Boris Makarenkov, the head of the Russian entity of the Storytel platform and a co-owner of “Litnet.”

Teenagers who filmed videos at the Sretensky Monastery have been charged with “LGBT propaganda” (Article 6.21 of the Administrative Code), reports TASS.

On 18 July, three young people attended a service at the Sretensky Monastery dressed in women’s clothing and filmed several videos there. Two of them have been formally charged, while materials regarding the third young man have been sent by law enforcement to the commission on juvenile affairs. Police also said they have launched an investigation into offences relating to the “insulting of religious feelings” (Article 148 of the Russian Criminal Code) and “violating legislation on freedom of religion” (Article 5.26 of the Administrative Code).

Ivan Apostolevsky, a deputy of the Legislative Assembly of Leningrad Region and leader of the Communist Party (KPRF) faction, was detained over posts about Alexei Navalny from eight years ago. This was reported by 47news.

Officers from Centre “E” detained Apostolevsky at Moscow Railway Station in St Petersburg as he was returning from a work trip to China.

The reason for the prosecution was Apostolevsky’s 2017 posts about Navalny. The deputy denies having written anything about the politician on social media.

“I don’t post anything like that at all—neither about extremism nor about Navalny. I haven’t been given the case materials yet. I’m sure it’s actually connected to the election campaign. And also to our principled stance on all the issues—about the factory, the waste reform, and the landfills. Do you think they just dug up something from 2017 for no reason?” the deputy told 47news.

15:05 Security forces also summoned Apostolevsky’s associate, Larisa Mukhina, to the police for a report to be filed. This was reported by SOTAvision.

Mukhina is the Communist Party (KPRF) candidate for governor of Leningrad Region. She is accused of violating campaign regulations because of a post on VKontakte. The complaint against Mukhina was filed by Maria Karpova, an employee of the administration in Kingisepp, a town near St Petersburg.

“Citizen Karpova filed a complaint with the police, allegedly claiming that I posted an illegal campaign announcement in the Southern Kingisepp VK group. Of course I don’t have access to that group and I didn’t make such a post. And just as I didn’t distribute illegal campaign materials on 12 July at the district party committee’s office,” said Larisa Mukhina.

The Bakhchisaray District Court in Crimea has fined the director of a nightclub 300,000 rubles (approximately US$3,250) over a Verka Serduchka song played at a disco, according to the court’s press office.

The director of the club “Atmosfera” was found guilty of discrediting the army (Part 1, Article 20.3.3, Administrative Code). He admitted guilt during the hearing.

The protocol was drawn up because, on the night of 26 May, a DJ at “Atmosfera” played Verka Serduchka’s song “Gulyanochka,” which includes the words “Ukraine has not yet perished”.

“The semantic content of these lyrics is aimed at discrediting the armed forces of the Russian Federation during the special military operation on the territory of Ukraine and at Russia’s policies as a whole,” the court press office said about the song, which was released in 2003.

A protocol for discrediting the army was also drawn up against the DJ, Pavel Korotky, who played the Serduchka song. His case has not yet been considered.

The DJ was detained after the disco video caught the attention of the author of the “Crimean SMERSH” Telegram channel, Alexander Talipov, who is known for reporting on Crimeans with opposition and anti-war views.

After his detention, the DJ was forced to apologise on camera. The club’s director said he personally contacted the police and filed a report on Korotky.

Yaroslav Rasputin, a correspondent for the queer media outlet Just Got Lucky and an employee of the “Parni+” project, has been fined 200,000 rubles (approx. US$2,200) for a post about Transgender Day of Visibility. Rasputin told Mediazona about the decision.

The fine was issued under the article on “LGBT propaganda” online (part 4, article 6.21 of the Code of Administrative Offenses) by the magistrate judge of court district No. 374 in Moscow. The judge delivered the verdict.

The reason for the fine was Rasputin’s Telegram channel post, which they published on 31 March. In the post, the journalist congratulated trans acquaintances on Transgender Day of Visibility.

After the court’s decision, “Gosuslugi” (a Russian government portal) sent Rasputin a notification for a fine of 400,000 rubles (approx. US$4,400)—twice the amount set by the court.

Earlier in April this year, the journalist was also fined under a protocol for violating foreign agent activity regulations (part 4, article 19.34 of the Code of Administrative Offenses). The reason was posts that did not carry the “foreign agent” label. The Ministry of Justice listed Rasputin on its register of “foreign agents” in September 2024.

On the afternoon of 26 July, police detained DJ Pavel Korotky, who had played Verka Serduchka’s song “Gulyanka” at a nightclub disco. This was reported by the Telegram channel “Crimean SMERSH.”

In the early hours of 26 July, Verka Serduchka’s song was played at Club Atmosfera in the village of Peschanoye, Bakhchisaray District, in Crimea. After a comment was made, the DJ stopped the track. The video from the disco was noticed by the author of the Telegram channel “Crimean SMERSH,” serial informant Aleksandr Talipov, who then contacted the police.

The DJ was detained and taken to the police station, where a protocol was drawn up under the article on “discrediting the army” (Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). At the station, he was forced to record a video with an apology. According to Talipov, a similar protocol was also drawn up for the club director.

That same day, the nightclub’s Instagram account posted that the staff’s position was: “Crimea is Russia,” and that Korotky was a replacement DJ who “will not work as a DJ in Crimea any more.” The club director told the outlet “Ostorozhno, Novosti” that he personally went to the police and filed a complaint against the DJ.

• The song “Gulyanka” was released in 2003. Its chorus includes: “Songs are flowing, wine is flowing / And the glasses clink, clink, clink in time / Ukraine has not yet perished, if we’re partying like this!”

On 21 July, the Zelenograd District Court in Moscow fined an elderly former military officer with the surname Yegorov under the article on displaying banned symbols (Part 1, Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). The decision was highlighted by “Govorít ne Moskva.”

The protocol against Yegorov was drawn up following a report by the chairperson of the same court, who contacted Centre “E” (Centre for Combating Extremism). In May, the elderly man lodged an appeal regarding his claim for delayed wages. According to the text of the ruling, the document contained propaganda for the “Citizens of the USSR” association, which has been banned since 2022. Law enforcement claim that, in this way, the man promoted the activities of the association.

Yegorov did not admit guilt, emphasising that he sent the appeal exclusively to the court and never published its text anywhere else. In his view, this means he did not promote the “Citizens of the USSR.” Nevertheless, the elderly man was fined. The amount of the fine is unknown.

No fewer than 110 electronic books on feminism, LGBT, and sex education have been removed from the Yandex.Books service. Verstka drew attention to this.

The outlet examined which books are no longer available in themed collections previously made by users. On the “Feminism 101” shelf, created nine years ago, 12 out of 14 books have disappeared. Among them are Anna Shadrina’s “Not Married: Sex, Love and Family Outside Marriage,” as well as Susan Sontag’s “On Women.” The latter book was the reason a protocol was drawn up against the independent St Petersburg bookshop Podpisnye Izdaniya under the “LGBT propaganda” article (part 1 of article 6.21 of the Administrative Code).

Another collection on feminism and sex education has seen the removal of Mary Beard’s “Women & Power: A Manifesto,” Andrzej Gryzewski and Przemysław Pilarski’s “HIM: An Intimate Conversation about That Organ,” Tess Holliday’s “My Body Positive: How I Learned to Love the Body I Live In,” and Lena Klimova’s “Real Girl.”

The service has also deleted books about sexuality in the ancient world. No longer available are Robert van Gulik’s “Sexual Life in Ancient China,” “The History of Sexuality III: The Care of the Self” by prominent French philosopher Michel Foucault, as well as Jonathan Eig’s “The Birth of the Pill: How Four Crusaders Reinvented Sex and Launched a Revolution.”

From shelves featuring LGBTQA literature, books such as Jeanette Winterson’s “Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit” and several others, including English-language titles, have also been removed.

Andrey Tkachenko’s “Sexual Crimes: Chikatilo and Others” has also disappeared from collections.

In mid-May, staff of the publishers Popcorn Books and Individuum were subjected to searches as part of the case concerning the “International LGBT Movement.” Several people have been placed in pre-trial detention.

According to investigators, the accused “out of selfish motives published and sold books promoting the activity of the LGBT movement to an unlimited range of people, among whom were minors.” Detectives considered the distribution of LGBT literature as extremist activity, and claimed that people could become “supporters of the 'International LGBT Public Movement'” as a result of reading such books.

According to Raisa Naumova, director of the regional children’s library named after N. D. Navolochkin, a book featuring the WWF logo was posted on an old version of the library’s website. That version is no longer active.

“And [law enforcement] saw a tiny WWF icon there. The book is from 2009, and it was posted on our site in 2018,” Naumova explained to Mediazona.

She stated that she considers the protocol “an absurd story” and intends to “take it to court,” since the library had previously received no advice from the Ministry of Justice.

“These situations are impossible for us to foresee. I am deeply hurt—I am a patriot, an opinion leader, the director of a legendary regional children’s library—and now we’re being charged under this disgraceful article. I am crushed by this, I am extremely upset,” Naumova said.

The Prosecutor General’s Office recognised the Swiss-based World Wide Fund for Nature as an “undesirable” organisation in June 2023. The agency claimed WWF’s conservation and environmental education activities were being used as “cover for carrying out projects that threaten the security of Russia’s economy.”

In March of the same year, the fund was designated as a “foreign agent.” According to the Ministry of Justice, it received support from foreign sources and, under the pretext of nature conservation, sought to influence authorities in Russia and spread negative information about them.

Following these events, the Russian branch of the fund separated from the Swiss office and announced it had terminated the agreement on using the panda logo and WWF acronym.

On 3 July, the Yakutsk City Court fined stand-up comedian Nyurgun Atakov 10,000 roubles (approximately US$110) over a joke about the colonisation of Indigenous peoples by Russia and discrimination against Yakuts in the country. The news was first reported by the “Torboznoe Radio” channel.

The fine was issued under the article on incitement of hatred (Article 20.3.1 of Russia’s Administrative Code) due to Atakov’s performance, an excerpt from which was published a year ago by the “MARDAN” channel.

During the show, the comedian said that in Russia “one nation has decided that they are above all of us [Indigenous peoples]” and “adores Ukrainians and Belarusians, because with them you can shit-talk Russians.”

In November 2024, the Centre for Combating Extremism (Centre “E”) sent materials to the Centre for Strategic Research under the head of Yakutia. Following this, an administrative case was opened against the comedian, with authorities finding signs of incitement to hatred against Russians in his performance.

Nyurgun Atakov did not attend the court hearing. He has been living in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, for three years, where he continues to work in stand-up and runs the YouTube channel “Turkic Phrasebook.” In his shows, this young man regularly talks about the discrimination faced by Indigenous peoples in Russia.