News

On 9 April, the Kirovsky District Court in Saratov fined 68-year-old Alexander Chernenko, a native of Ukraine who is a Russian citizen, two thousand roubles (approx. US$22) over the Ukrainian coat of arms in the form of a trident. This was reported by the outlet Idel.Realii.

The man was found guilty under the article on public display of extremist symbols (Part 1, Article 20.3 of the Administrative Code). The protocol against Chernenko was drawn up after police found on his Odnoklassniki page a photo in which the elderly man was sitting at a table in a black T-shirt with the image of a Ukrainian trident and the words “Моя Украiна” (“My Ukraine”).

In April, the same court fined Chernenko 30,000 roubles (approx. US$330) under the article on discrediting the Russian army (Part 1, Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code). The reason for the fine was a repost on Odnoklassniki that “contained information discrediting the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.” The content of the post remains unknown.

St Petersburg activist Darya Kozyreva has been fined 40,500 roubles (US$450) under the article on “discrediting the army” (part 1 of article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). This was reported by the project “A Word for the Defence” and “Mediazona”.

The Petrogradsky District Court handed down the fine today. The case was initiated due to Kozyreva’s final statement before sentencing in her criminal case for “discrediting” the army (part 1 of article 280.3 of the Criminal Code). At that time, she was sentenced to two years and eight months in a penal colony.

The administrative case was based on almost her entire speech in court, except for her recitation of Taras Shevchenko’s poetry. At the end of her statement, in particular, she said: “I dream, of course, that Ukraine will regain every inch of its land, including Donbas and Crimea. I believe that one day my dream will come true. One day history will judge everything fairly. But Ukraine has already won. Won already. That’s all.”

Darya Kozyreva’s lawyer, Rafail Polyakov, told the court that the protocol drafted against his client was an act of pressure on her, as the right to express one’s opinion in a final statement is guaranteed by the Constitution.

The activist herself said she was not given the opportunity to review the case materials, called the protocol a violation of her right to a defence, and noted that “even murderers” are not prosecuted for words spoken in a final statement.

In Moscow, a SOTAvision correspondent who was filming Navalny’s grave was detained and has since been released. The outlet itself reported this.

The journalist was detained in the entranceway of their own apartment building. They were taken to a police station and then released after being issued a summons to appear for drawing up a protocol under the article on participation in the activities of an “undesirable” organisation.

Law enforcement officers seized and reviewed the detainee’s phone. According to them, the police were searching for connections with the Telegram channel “Sirena” created by Navalny’s associates, “but found nothing and were very disappointed.”

The Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Ulyanovsk has closed the administrative case concerning the sale of a “foreign agent’s” book on the Wildberries marketplace without proper labelling. This was reported by Mediazona.

The protocol had been filed against Artem Karabanov, owner of the BookMart online bookstore, which operates on the platform. The reason was the sale of the novel “Russen, komm!” by writer Elizaveta Alexandrova-Zorina. She was added to the “foreign agents” register in February.

The administrative article on failure to comply with the law on “foreign agents” (Part 42, Article 19.5 of the Code of Administrative Offences), with which the bookseller was charged, requires the Ministry of Justice to first send a warning to anyone mentioning a “foreign agent” online without noting their status. If this is not corrected in time, the person faces administrative responsibility, Mediazona notes.

It turned out the Ministry of Justice confused the surname and sent the notice about the protocol not to “Karabanov A.I.” but to “Kabanov A.I.” “There is no other evidence in the case materials that Karabanov was properly and promptly notified <…>,” the judge added.

Although there is still no mention of Alexandrova-Zorina’s “foreign agent” status on the product page, the judge ruled that there was no offence committed and closed the case.

The Vakhitovsky District Court in Kazan has sentenced local resident Ruslan Tavdiryakov to 10 days in detention over a social media post comparing nationalists taking part in a religious procession to participants in the riot at Makhachkala airport. The SOVA Research Centre drew attention to the court’s decision in its report.

Tavdiryakov was found guilty under the administrative offence of inciting hatred or enmity (Article 20.3.1 of the Administrative Code). He admitted his guilt.

According to the court ruling, Tavdiryakov posted a video on his Telegram channel showing a religious procession in honour of the transfer of the relics of Alexander Nevsky, during which the slogan “Russians forward!” can be heard being chanted.

He wrote in the accompanying comment: “Interesting! Will these lads who turned the procession in the Northern Capital into a chauvinistic ‘Russian March,’ humiliating the national and religious feelings of millions of non-Russian and non-Orthodox citizens of our Country, receive proper condemnation and exemplary punishments, just like the young people who acted on emotion (and their moderators) at Makhachkala Airport? After all, it’s the same article! Or is this something different?”

Representatives of the prosecutor’s office sent the text for linguistic analysis, which found that the materials contained evidence of:

—incitement to hatred or enmity towards the group “Russians, Orthodox believers”;

—negative assessment of the group “Russians, Orthodox believers”;

—derogatory statements regarding the group “Russians, Orthodox believers”;

—fomenting enmity or hatred towards one group distinguished by national and religious identity, as compared with another group distinguished by national and religious identity.

On the day of the protest, Novikov was fined twice for a total of 80,000 roubles (about US$900) for previous anti-war pickets. On those occasions, he was accused of “discrediting the Russian army” (Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences) for holding posters with photos of destroyed Ukrainian cities and portraits of residents of the Urals killed in the war.

After the court sessions, Novikov decided to hold a picket directly opposite the courthouse. He was then detained and taken to the security room, but was released shortly afterwards.

The Ostrovsky City Court in Pskov region has sentenced activist Roman Ladyshchenko to seven days' arrest and fined him a total of 41,500 roubles (approximately US$460) on three charges: displaying prohibited symbols (Article 20.3, Part 1 of the Administrative Code) and “discrediting the army” (Article 20.3.3, Part 1 of the Administrative Code), Mediazona reported.

He was arrested on 25 May for a VKontakte post featuring the symbols of FBK; the following day, he was fined 40,000 roubles (approximately US$445) for an anti-war post on the same social network, and on 30 May was handed a further fine of 1,500 roubles (approximately US$17), again for showing FBK symbols.

Ladyshchenko is an electrical engineer and has taken part in local elections as a candidate from the Pskov branch of the Yabloko party and the Open Russia movement. In 2018, he was charged with promoting Nazi symbols (Article 20.3 of the Administrative Code) over the “HitlerVsPutin” video he posted on VKontakte, but the court declined to consider the materials due to errors in their preparation.

A resident of Tula, who walked past the local parade on 9 May wearing a T-shirt with a crossed-out Z and the slogan “Peace to the world, no to war,” was fined 45,000 rubles (approximately US$500). This was reported by the law enforcement-affiliated channel “Tula. ExtremiZm.”

The channel refers to the fined man as “Grandpa Nikolai.” The website of the Tula Central District Court features a court record for the case of “discrediting the army” (Part 1, Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences) against Nikolai Dmitruk, with a verdict given on 10 May.

The Yakutsk City Court has decided not to impose any punishment on Denis Adamov, editor-in-chief of the publication Yakutia.Info, over a post made 11 years ago. The court’s ruling was highlighted by Mediazona.

In April, it became known that Adamov had been handed five protocols at once under the article for participation in the activities of an “undesirable” organisation (Article 20.33 of the Code of Administrative Offences).

The basis for one of the protocols was a publication by Yakutia.Info, based on reporting from Dozhd (TV Rain), which was posted in October 2014. The post has since been deleted. It discussed the alleged resignation of Minister of Internal Affairs Vladimir Kolokoltsev.

The judge noted that “formally, the elements of an administrative offence are present.” However, they decided not to impose a fine, issuing only an oral warning. The official pointed out that the publication had been made long before Dozhd was declared “undesirable” in 2023.

St Petersburg activist Darya Kozyreva has been charged with “discrediting the army” (part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Offences Code) because of her final statement delivered before her sentence was announced, as well as remarks made at the same hearing. This was reported by the St Petersburg courts’ press service.

“According to the record, on 18 April 2025, Kozyreva was given the floor at the court hearing, and in that statement she herself gave grounds for part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Offences Code of the Russian Federation. In her final statement, Kozyreva again made remarks regarding the war, occupation and so on,” reads the press service’s statement.

The administrative case materials will soon be forwarded to a judge.

In April, Kozyreva was convicted under a criminal case for a repeat offence of “discrediting the army” (part 1 of Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code). She was sentenced to two years and eight months in a penal colony. The reason for her criminal prosecution was her anti-war protest and an interview in which she described the war in Ukraine as “monstrous” and “criminal.”

In her final statement, she said that Putin had started the war, Russia had seized Ukrainian territories, and she referred to Russian soldiers as occupiers.

The Kirovsky District Court of Omsk banned memes depicting Vladimir Putin as Adolf Hitler. The decision was reported by Verstka.

On 7 May, the court considered a claim from the prosecutor of Omsk’s Kirovsky Administrative District, who requested a ban on spreading 12 links.

At least five of these links contain memes showing Putin with the hairstyle and moustache worn by Hitler. Many of the memes were accompanied by the caption “Putler Kaput.” Some of the pages also included photographs from protest actions, where participants brought placards with such images of the Russian president.

Another link leads to a post on the 9GAG platform showing Putin as a detainee holding a board with his name and the phrase “A War Criminal.” Another link points to a page on Stikhi.ru depicting Putin holding a pistol to his head, with the caption: “How to save Russia from shame?”

The ban also covers a post on LiveJournal featuring a fictional cover of the magazine “Krokodil” with a photo of Putin and the caption: “A court has started to consider the case on its merits. The being stated that it was not guilty.”

The prosecutor further sought to prohibit a page on Fishki.net with a photo from a 2014 protest in Moscow in support of Ukraine, due to a placard reading: “Putin’s aggression against Ukraine is directed against Russia and Europe.”

The prosecutor justified the claim by saying these images and captions discredit Putin. The judge also stated that they insult his honour and dignity.

Two scientists who spoke out against the war were not elected as full members of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), reports T-Invariant.

In the elections, which concluded on 29 May, two corresponding members of RAS were not confirmed as full academicians: linguistics professor at Ural Federal University Elena Berezovich and Director of the Vinogradov Russian Language Institute of RAS Fyodor Uspensky. Both had signed an open letter by scientists in 2022 against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

According to the RAS charter, a candidate needs to receive more than half of all academicians’ votes—there are about 780 of them. Berezovich received votes from 351 academicians; 173 voted against, and 33 abstained. Uspensky received 352 votes in favour, 171 against, and 34 abstentions.

The publication notes that before the vote, academician Valery Kashin addressed the audience. Kashin is the General Designer of the Scientific-Production Corporation “Design Bureau of Mechanical Engineering,” one of Russia’s leading centres for military technology.

“Academician candidates Elena Berezovich and Fyodor Uspensky signed an open letter in support of Ukraine and against the Special Military Operation in 2022. Three years have passed. We can all see what is happening to the Russian language and literature in Ukraine. Berezovich is the head of a Russian language department; Uspensky is an institute director. They ought to respond somehow—have they changed their position or remained where they stood? At least, in the open press, I have not seen anything of the sort,” said Kashin.

“This call for Berezovich and Uspensky to comment on their position was supported by the head of the RAS medical division,” a T-Invariant source among RAS members said. This division is headed by academician Vladimir Starodubov.

Academician-Secretary of the Division of Historical and Philological Sciences of RAS Nikolay Makarov replied to Kashin that he was confident Berezovich and Uspensky had changed their stance, and that his division’s position was well known, since he himself “was probably the first humanities scholar to visit the liberated territories.” He added that his division actively supports Russian military personnel.

T-Invariant writes that during this discussion, Berezovich and Uspensky were probably not in the hall—the RAS president and other leaders tried to call for them over the microphone. Makarov’s speech in defence of the scientists was met with applause from the audience.

At the same time, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov was elected as an academician of RAS. Azarov resigned in January 2014 during the Maidan protests against the government of Viktor Yanukovych and soon left the country. T-Invariant describes this as a precedent, as it is the first time a person with a Hirsch index of zero has become a full member of RAS. Azarov received 527 votes in favour, 14 against, and 15 abstentions.

The Tagansky District Court in Moscow has fined Telegram 4 million roubles (approximately US$44,000) for failing to remove queer channels (under Part 2 of Article 13.41 of the Administrative Code), reported TASS.

The press release refers to “10 channels dedicated to same-sex sexual relationships” found by Roskomnadzor staff, which they had first demanded be deleted; when this was unsuccessful, they drew up a report.

12:21 “Mediazona” drew attention to the decision published by the Tagansky court.

The document lists links to projects which, according to Roskomnadzor, “promote non-traditional sexual relationships, paedophilia, and gender transition.” These include the channels of the Sphere Foundation, which provides assistance to LGBTQ+ people; the European human rights organisation EQUAL PostOst; and sex educator and queer activist Sasha Kazantseva.

The decision also states that Telegram did not remove channels where calls for unauthorised mass events were published. Among those named in the document are the channels of the Bashkort unit, fighting on the side of Ukraine, and activists from Bashkortostan (a republic in the Urals), as well as the “FSB Boutique” channel.

The Proletarsky District Court in Tula has fined 34-year-old Nikolai 30,000 roubles (approximately US$330) under the law on “discrediting the army” (Part 1, Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses), reports the “Tula. Extremism” channel, which is linked to law enforcement.

The prosecution was prompted by the poem “Dedicated to Z-idiots,” which was posted on Telegram. The poem tells the story of young people who drink alcohol and argue with their mothers about politics, then go to fight in Ukraine and are killed.

The Primorsky District Court of St Petersburg has, at the request of the prosecutor’s office, banned the song “Cooperative Swan Lake” by Noize MC, reports Darya Lebedeva, head of the city’s unified press service for the courts.

The ruling prohibits the distribution of links to the track on YouTube and on the website noizemc.com.

The decision is based on the findings of an expert who identified in the song “signs of justification and endorsement of the need for hostile, hateful attitudes towards people, as well as statements promoting violent changes to the foundations of the constitutional order.”

“[The track] is full of obscene language, forms a negative attitude towards representatives of state authorities and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, is harmful to minors, and may damage the moral and ethical development of children,” Lebedeva relays as the expert’s conclusions.

The expert also found in the song’s lyrics signs of discrediting the authorities and the Russian military.

In March, the service Yandex.Music, at the request of Roskomnadzor, removed “Cooperative Swan Lake” and several other tracks from Noize MC’s new album “Not All at Home” from its library. At the time, the group “Roskomsvoboda” observed that the deleted songs had appeared on the register of banned websites. Roskomnadzor stated that these tracks were distributing “unreliable information of public significance.”

In early May, the same songs were blocked for Russian residents by the streaming services Apple and SoundCloud.

Kira Belaya, an activist from Magnitogorsk, was fined 2,000 roubles (approx. US$22) because of an emoji in her Telegram nickname featuring the cover of a Pink Floyd album. She was accused of displaying extremist symbols (Article 20.3 of the Administrative Code). Kira Belaya told this to Mediazona.

The case against the activist was initiated over an emoji showing the convergence of light, when a rainbow passes through a prism and forms a single ray. According to Belaya, on 17 May she travelled to the village of Askarovo in Bashkortostan, where a hearing was due to take place on the construction of a mining and processing plant. Local residents are opposed to the project.

She was not allowed in to the hearing, but officers took her documents for inspection. The very next day, police came to see her in Magnitogorsk, an industrial city in the Urals. They took Belaya to the police station, where a report was written up.

At the 20 May court hearing, Belaya argued that the drawing of a triangle with a flag refers to the cover of the album Dark Side of the Moon and “is not identical to LGBT symbols.”

The judge, however, considered Belaya’s arguments to be simply a “defence strategy” and stated that the emoji could be “identified with the symbols of the LGBT movement, which is banned in the Russian Federation.”

In her appeal against the decision of the Abzelilovsky District Court of Bashkortostan, she pointed out that she “has no connection to the LGBT movement,” “does not share” its ideology, and is in a relationship with a man, with whom she is raising a child.

The young woman was detained and taken to the police station for the protocol to be drawn up in mid-April when she went out with a “No to war!” sign to the “Nebo” shopping centre.

Students at Saratov Cossack School No. 43 have been written up for holding a “ceremonial handover of the toilet” to younger children to the tune of criminal underworld songs. This was reported by the Saratov prosecutor’s office and local media outlets.

The “ceremonial handover of the toilet” took place on 20 May. “Along with the toilet, you get the criminal code of conduct,” one of the cadets can be heard saying in a video. After this, the students announced the rules: “No pissing, no shitting. […] Basically, you can’t do anything except smoke.”

The prosecutor’s office clarified that the cadets “shouted phrases promoting an organisation whose activities are banned.” The reference is likely to the “AUE” movement, which has been declared “extremist” in Russia.

“Protocols for administrative offences have been drawn up for participants who are of the age of legal responsibility and their legal guardians, and the review of these cases is being monitored,” the agency reports.

A statement from the local education department described the incident as “bordering on a violation of moral and ethical standards.” Meetings were held with the students and their parents. “The Council of Commanders and Mentors decided to strip the participants in the video of their Cossack ranks and titles. The deputy headteacher for student affairs, the duty administrator and the teacher on floor duty have each received a reprimand,” the statement said.

A court in Magnitogorsk, a major industrial city in the Urals, has fined photographer Tatyana Gladskikh two thousand roubles (US$22) over a photo with rainbow flags that she published on a stock image website. This was reported by the Baza Telegram channel.

The woman was found guilty under the article concerning the display of extremist organisation symbols (Article 20.3 of the Administrative Code). Gladskikh was accused over a photo she had published on the American stock photo site Dreamstime.

According to the court ruling, Gladskikh “published a photo where she and another woman are posed against a backdrop of a flag with six rainbow-coloured stripes, wearing bracelets in the same colours on their wrists.” The court claimed that the photographer knows “the rainbow flag is a symbol of the LGBT movement,” which has been designated an extremist organisation in Russia.

Gladskikh admitted her guilt and removed the photo. The case against her was opened in response to a complaint from an unknown person. In Gladskikh’s opinion, the complaint could have come from those who had used her photos without permission and had been held accountable as a result.

“I’ve been working with stock photo agencies for a long time, and when I travel abroad and see my own photos, I’m confident they were purchased. But when I see my photos in Russia, I’m 99 per cent sure they were stolen. That’s why I signed an agreement with a legal firm to protect my rights. For example, there’s a banner with my photo hanging up in our city. I write to the organisation: ‘I’m sure you didn’t purchase it and this is a violation.’ They just tell me to get lost. Then my lawyers take them to court—those who stole my photos get fined. So I think there are quite a few angry people out there. Apparently, they’ve purposefully started searching for photos like this. It’s impossible to stumble on them by accident. They would have had to go to the site, search my profile and enter the exact abbreviation,” Baza quotes Gladskikh as saying.

The Tverskoy District Court in Moscow has fined the “Falanster” bookshop and its founder, Boris Kupriyanov, for selling a single book. This was reported (1, 2) by a Mediazona correspondent from the courtroom.

The bookshop was fined 80,000 roubles (about US$860) under the article on organising the activity of an “undesirable” organisation, and Kupriyanov was fined 40,000 roubles (about US$430) for participating in such activity.

The fines were imposed over the sale of a book by Belarusian anarchist Igor Olinevich, titled “I’m Going to Magadan.” The book was published with support from the “Anarchist Black Cross Federation,” which was declared “undesirable” at the start of 2024. In December last year, a buyer purchased the book, and this became the grounds for prosecution. The shop earned 152 roubles (about US$1.60) from the sale.

Kupriyanov denied guilt. “He said the book was a second-hand title brought into the shop in two copies, that he did not participate in the 'Falanster’ organisation’s activities or communicate with its representatives. The shop received no information from the organisation, nor did it pay them any funds,” Mediazona reports.

Lawyer Aleksandr Aldaev, among other points, noted that the agreement to receive the book was concluded in August 2023, six months before the “Anarchist Black Cross Federation” was labelled as “undesirable.”

• In March, prosecutors came to “Falanster” for an inspection. As publicist Ivan Davydov wrote, security officials seized several books against a receipt, including works by the philosophers Michel Foucault, Hannah Arendt, Walter Benjamin, and Susan Sontag.
• In February, “Falanster” cancelled a book launch for Kirill Medvedev’s “Antifascism for All. Revised and Expanded” after tip-offs from pro-government activists. The book discusses, among other things, the murders of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and Novaya Gazeta journalist Anastasia Baburova.

Security forces carried out a raid at a party in Kamensk-Uralsky, a city in Sverdlovsk region in the Urals. This was reported by TASS, citing a source within the security services.

“In Kamensk-Uralsky, in the Second Workers’ Settlement, on Second Polevaya Street, in the early hours of Saturday, the ‘Russian Community’ and law enforcement stopped LGBT obscurantism. For an ‘exciting journey into the past’ at a ‘90s-themed’ party, the organisers had invited drag performers,” TASS quoted its source as saying.

In total, security officers detained 26 people. They were released after fingerprinting and inspection. A protocol was drawn up against the “organiser” for “LGBTQ propaganda” (Article 6.21 of the Administrative Offences Code).

The TASS source added that “the issue of initiating a criminal case” under the article on organising the activities of an extremist organisation (Part 1, Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code) is under consideration.

A report on cooperation with an “undesirable organisation” (Article 20.33 of the Code of Administrative Offences) has been filed with the Kuybyshevsky District Court in St Petersburg against Elena Orlova, the manager of the Podpisnye Izdaniya bookshop, reported Darya Lebedeva, head of the St Petersburg court press service.

The case was initiated over the sale of Igor Olinevich’s book “Heading for Magadan,” published with support from the Anarchist Black Cross Federation, which has been recognised as “undesirable” in Russia. The court will hear the case on 16 June.

Last week, the St Petersburg bookshop Podpisnye Izdaniya was fined 800,000 roubles (approx. US$8,800) under the “LGBT+ propaganda” law (Part 1, Article 6.21 of the Code of Administrative Offences).

The case against her was triggered by her appearance in a video on the Freies Russland NRW YouTube channel about a “Solidarity Action by Free Russians” that took place on 17 November 2024 in Düsseldorf. She gave a comment to the channel in which she condemned the war in Ukraine. In the video, she was introduced as a member of Freies Russland NRW.

This group was declared “undesirable” in Russia in December 2023. The organisation itself describes itself as a community of Russians and Russian speakers in Germany who oppose the war and Putin.

The Kronstadt District Court of St Petersburg has fined dance teacher Anna Erdynieva 10,000 rubles (about US$110) for an anti-war protest held on 9 May. This was reported by the city courts’ joint press service. Erdynieva’s lawyer from OVD-Info, Nikita Sorokin, confirmed the information about the fine.

On 9 May, a St Petersburg resident went out into the street with a sign reading: “8–9 May is a day to remember and mourn the victims of inhuman aggression.” The paper also had two handwritten slogans, both reading “No to war,” and a drawing of a raccoon.

According to Sorokin, she held two protests in different locations in St Petersburg using the same placard. However, law enforcement treated these as two separate public events.

“In one location she [Anna Erdynieva] allegedly obstructed vehicle traffic, and in another, the passage of military personnel,” her lawyer explained.

Because of these two incidents, she was charged under the article for participating in a picket that interfered with transport infrastructure and pedestrian movement (Part 6.1, Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code). Her lawyer added that the police reports were based on two nearly identical photos taken in different locations. It was under one of these reports that the court fined her today.

Furthermore, as Nikita Sorokin pointed out, writing two reports for the same offence is unlawful as, by law, a person cannot be penalised twice for the same act.

Police also classified the photos of Erdynieva as actions aimed at “discrediting the Russian Armed Forces” (Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code). For this, too, they drew up two reports against her.

According to Nikita Sorokin, he will appeal the court’s decision to fine Erdynieva at a higher court.

• Anna Erdynieva was detained on 12 May. Security officers lured her to Kronstadt, an island city within St Petersburg, by pretending to be prospective dance clients. She was then taken to the police station, where the reports were drawn up.
• She spent two nights in the station. On 14 May, she was taken to the Kronstadt District Court. The judge sent all the police reports back due to numerous violations, but the officers did not correct the paperwork. The administrative cases were transferred to another judge.
• Upon completion of 48 hours in custody, Erdynieva and her lawyer Nikita Sorokin tried to leave the court building. However, traffic police and the National Guard arrived, preventing their departure. Officers insisted that Sorokin and Erdynieva return to court “to postpone the hearing.”
• Only late in the evening on 14 May were the lawyer and his client released by the police.

The St Petersburg bookshop “Podpisnye Izdaniya” has been fined 800,000 roubles (US$9,000) under the so-called “LGBT propaganda” law (Art. 6.21, Part 1 of the Code of Administrative Offences). This was reported by Mediazona.

The Kuybyshevsky District Court found “LGBT propaganda” in the books “On Women” and “Against Interpretation and Other Essays” by Susan Sontag, as well as “Everybody’s Body” by Olivia Laing.

A representative of the bookshop and the defence emphasised that the writer and publisher, not the shop, are responsible for the books’ content. They also noted that these works were not on the list of extremist materials.

On 10 April, law enforcement officers came to the bookshop for an inspection. They seized several dozen books mentioning LGBT topics. After the inspection, “Podpisnye Izdaniya” was given a list of 48 books to remove from the shelves.

Apple has been fined 5 million roubles (approx. US$55,000) in Russia under two charges of “LGBT propaganda” (Part 3, Article 6.21 of the Code of Administrative Offences). This was reported by Mediazona (1, 2).

The charges were heard at the Tagansky District Court in Moscow. The hearings were held behind closed doors at the request of Apple’s representatives.

The reason for the charges is unknown. They were filed against the Irish company Apple Distribution International LTD, which is the founder of the Russian legal entity “Apple Rus.”

Today, the court will also consider another administrative case for “LGBT propaganda” and a second one for refusing to censor content at the request of Russian authorities.

17:30 Apple has been fined a further 2.5 million roubles (approx. US$27,500) under an “LGBT propaganda” charge, reports Mediazona. The total amount of fines under the three charges has reached 7.5 million roubles (approx. US$82,500).

Human rights defender Maksim Davydov, who advocates for the rights of illegally mobilised individuals in occupied Donetsk, has been fined 45,000 roubles (approx. US$500) under the article on “discrediting the Russian Armed Forces” (Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). This was reported by ASTRA, citing Davydov himself.

The case was triggered by three comments posted in a Telegram chat called “MDNR.” Two of them were from February this year. The last comment, but in a somewhat different wording, was from November 2024, as discovered by OVD-Info.

• “Astra [an independent Russian publication], the only legal lever to force Russian weakoviks to act”;
• “In the morning of 20 February 2025 in the Chervonohvardeyskyi district of Makiivka [a city in eastern Ukraine], militants from the illegal armed formation ‘Military Commissariat’ are going around vocational colleges in the district searching for fresh meat for assaults. The LPR and DPR authorities no longer need locksmiths, electricians, or turners. The replacement of the native population with Asian savages is in full swing”;
• “The special military operation is a very convenient cover for carrying out the genocide of Slavs. The Ukrainian and Russian authorities are disposing of the native population in close cooperation” (original spelling preserved).

The report on the human rights defender was drawn up by “Centre E” officer Mikhail Krasy. Maksim Davydov himself stated that he was expressing his own personal opinion in the comments.

He also said that the case was considered “illegally and not according to protocol.” In particular, the original papers from the court have no official (wet) stamps.

“I am preparing complaints to the judicial department, to the Supreme Court, I will challenge and file appeals. Only death will stop me,” said Maksim Davydov.

Law enforcement officers carried out a raid at Department 57, a club in St Petersburg, and detained blogger Vlados Miros (real name: Vladislav Morenov). This was reported overnight between 17 and 18 May by several sources: “Ostorozhno, novosti”, VChK-OGPU, REN-TV and Baza.

According to eyewitnesses who spoke to reporters, officers from the Centre for Countering Extremism arrived at the club during the blogger’s performance. They took Morenov off stage, and also detained his choreographer, Anastasia Lukina. The reason for the raid and subsequent detention is unknown.

It is also unclear whether any club visitors were detained. Eyewitnesses told “Ostorozhno, novosti” that officers lined people up against the wall at the entrance and photographed their passports.

After detaining the blogger and his choreographer, the police left the club. Later, venue representatives announced that Vlados Miros’ DJ set was cancelled “for technical reasons.” The current whereabouts of the blogger and his colleague are also unknown.

Vlados Miros is a beauty and lifestyle blogger. His Instagram page has 1.8 million followers.

12:01 Blogger Vlados Miros and choreographer Anastasia Lukina were released after questioning at the police station. This was reported by “Fontanka,” citing the Main Department of Internal Affairs of St Petersburg.

According to the publication, police went to Department 57 after a phone call from the Moscow region. The raid was prompted by information about “an extremist party promoting LGBT propaganda.”

“Fontanka” noted that police held a “preventive conversation” with the party organisers and “found no breaches of public order among the 52 attendees.”

The Adler District Court has fined Daniil Zhukov, a trash streamer from Tula, 150,000 roubles (approximately US$1,700) under the article on “LGBT propaganda” (Part 3, Article 6.21 of the Administrative Offences Code). This was reported by the joint press service of the courts of Krasnodar Krai.

According to Sochi1.ru, the blogger came to Sochi—a resort city on the Black Sea—together with his friend Roman Nilov. They streamed from a rented flat, drank alcohol, and completed viewers’ challenges in exchange for tips.

“The published video content they posted clearly contained propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships. In their streams, the young men asked women to undress and broke bottles over their heads,” journalists reported.

In footage published in a local Telegram channel, two girls are seen kissing.

In court, Daniil Zhukov admitted his guilt in full and expressed remorse.

The court sentenced Roman Nilov to 15 days’ detention under the article on public demonstration of Nazi symbols (Part 1, Article 20.3 of the Administrative Offences Code). According to the court, during the stream, a tattoo on the man from Tula appeared on camera, “looking similar to the Nazi swastika symbol.” Nilov also admitted guilt and promised “to take measures to change the tattoo.”

Kirill Kiselyov, administrator of the “Glockmeister” channel from St Petersburg, has been fined 50,000 roubles (about US$550) for saying that Russian National Guard officers are “worse than terrorists.” This was reported by the city’s joint press service of the courts.

According to the Primorsky District Court, on 23 April, Kiselyov published a post in his channel about the presidential administration creating the Russian National Guard. The text of the post included the following: “They [the National Guard officers] are worse than the terrorists who carried out the attacks that killed [Z-military correspondent Vladlen] Tatarsky and General [Igor] Kirillov.” These words no longer appear in the original post, as it has since been changed.

Experts who analysed the post found this sentence to contain a “negative assessment of the employees of the Federal Service of the National Guard Troops.”

The court fined Kirill Kiselyov under the law against spreading information that expresses disrespect for state authority (Part 3 of Article 20.1 of the Administrative Offences Code). The St Petersburg resident did not appear at the hearing; it is unknown whether they admitted guilt.

Because of a meme featuring the frog character Pepe and a photo of Clara Zetkin and Rosa Luxemburg, a court in Novgorod Region fined Georgy Rezankov under the article on displaying extremist symbols (Part 1, Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). The case card of the ruling was discovered by Verstka.

The neighbourhood police officer who drew up the protocol found the saved images on Georgy Rezankov’s VKontakte account. He stated that the photos included “the symbol of the international social movement LGBT.”

The court decision notes that one image features “an anthropomorphic frog from comics, wearing a six-coloured wig,” and the other is a “historical photograph” of Zetkin and Luxemburg with a six-colour flag depicted.

The Novgorod Region resident told the court that the Pepe meme “has nothing to do with LGBT.” He added that the photo of Zetkin and Luxemburg “also does not indicate LGBT propaganda, although some researchers believe they were in a close relationship and lived together.”

The argument that Rezankov had posted the images in 2020, when the “LGBT movement” had not yet been declared extremist in Russia, was not accepted by the judge. She stated that the man had committed an ongoing offence and should have “brought his page into compliance with the law.” The court fined Georgy Rezankov 1,500 rubles (approx. US$16).

As Verstka points out, there were also errors in the court’s ruling. The German feminist activists, instead of being named Zetkin and Luxemburg, became “Tsentkin” and “Lyuksinbur.” When listing the colours of the rainbow flag, the last colour, violet, was replaced a second time with orange.

The Saratov teacher Vera Bashkova was dismissed from her school after being accused of “promoting Nazi symbols.” This was reported by the local outlet Vzglyad-Info, citing the teacher’s husband, Vladimir Bashkov. The publication was noted by ASTRA.

The teacher, from the settlement of Teplichny near Saratov in southern Russia, put on a play for Victory Day (9 May) at the school, based on Valentin Kataev’s novella “Son of the Regiment.” Pupils from the third and eighth grades helped stage it.

The play includes a scene where a Nazi interpreter interrogates the main character, the orphan boy Vanya Sontsev. A local official (whose name and position are not specified) took a photo of this scene.

Later, she forwarded the picture to Larisa Sorokina, the deputy head of the social department in the Gagarinsky District. The photo showed a swastika on the sleeve of the schoolgirl playing the interpreter.

After this, Vera Bashkova was summoned to the department. Sorokina “reprimanded the teacher harshly,” demanded that she remove the St George’s ribbon from her chest, saying: “You’re all wearing these!” and demanded that the teacher resign.

“The novella ‘Son of the Regiment’ is a classic of Soviet literature <…>. Accusing a teacher of promoting Nazism because of a play is absurd. <…> My wife has always attached great importance to fostering love for the Motherland. I can’t hold back from commenting on these officials and their actions—they undermine respect for authority and for the very idea of patriotic education,” said Vladimir Bashkov.

Saratov city hall did not comment on Bashkova’s dismissal.

17:30 Officials in the Gagarinsky District of Saratov will carry out an internal investigation following media reports of a teacher’s dismissal over a play about the Second World War. This was reported by TASS, citing the city administration’s press service.

The internal investigation will involve “all those participant in the story: the deputy responsible for social affairs, the administration and the school staff.” It is important “to speak with children about our country’s history” but also “to prevent incorrect interpretations,” the statement said.

16 May Vera Bashkova’s resignation was annulled, reports Vzglyad-Info, citing the teacher.

This happened on the same day following an internal review and Bashkova’s interview with the prosecutor’s office. On that day, news also broke that Denis Buzanov, a deputy of the Saratov regional parliament, called the accusation of promoting Nazism against the teacher “blatant absurdity.” He sent an appeal to the governor, requesting a review of the legality of the woman’s dismissal.

“The resignation letter I was working out until the end of the week on has been annulled. Larisa Sorokina and I reached an amicable agreement and the conflict is resolved. I am satisfied, and the honest name of the teacher has been restored,” Vzglyad-Info quoted Bashkova as saying.

The court has returned the “LGBT propaganda” case (part 1 of article 6.21 of the Code of Administrative Offences) against “Podpisnye Izdaniya” to the police. This was reported by Darya Lebedeva, head of the joint press service for St Petersburg.

On 10 April, law enforcement came to the bookshop for an inspection. They confiscated several dozen books mentioning LGBT topics. After the inspection, “Podpisnye Izdaniya” was given a list of 48 books to remove from the shop’s shelves.

The so-called “LGBT propaganda” was allegedly found in three books: “Everybody” by Olivia Laing, and Susan Sontag’s “On Women” and “Against Interpretation and Other Essays,” said Darya Lebedeva. “Podpisnye Izdaniya” disagreed with the protocol.

The case was sent to magistrate court section No. 203, which then referred it by jurisdiction to Kuybyshevsky District Court in St Petersburg. The court found procedural violations in the protocol.

“The case statement is incomplete. The protocol mentions witnesses and victims, but provides no data on them. Some copies of the submitted documents are not certified. The printed publications themselves are absent (and I would have liked to see them, really). So, the protocol is deficient,” wrote Lebedeva.

16 May—Kuybyshevsky District Court in St Petersburg on 15 May re-registered the administrative case of “LGBT propaganda” against “Podpisnye Izdaniya.” It is presumed to be the same case the court returned to the police on 12 May.

Klevitov was detained on 9 May during a solo anti-war protest. At the police station, the young man was beaten and kept overnight, despite there being no legal grounds for doing so. A lawyer was not allowed to see him.

In court, Nataliya Tikhonova highlighted numerous violations. Among other things, she pointed out that instead of conducting an expert assessment, the police simply googled the phrase “No to war. Fascism will not pass”—the exact slogan on Klevitov’s placard.

The Leningrad Regional Court has overturned the fine imposed on St Petersburg priest Grigory Mikhnov-Vaitenko. He wrote about this on his Telegram channel.

In March, Mikhnov-Vaitenko was fined 15,000 roubles (approx. US$165) under an article for failure to comply with an order to eliminate violations of the “foreign agent” legislation (Part 42, Article 19.5 of the Administrative Code).

The reason was a repost from the outlet Bumaga, which has been designated a “foreign agent.” The court decided that the priest had not indicated the project’s status after being warned by the Ministry of Justice. Mikhnov-Vaitenko himself stated that he had not received any instructions from the authorities. The appeal court agreed that the Ministry of Justice had not properly informed the priest, and cancelled the fine.

Grigory Mikhnov-Vaitenko was also added to the “foreign agent” register in July 2024. The Ministry of Justice stated that the priest had spoken out against the Russian invasion of Ukraine and had spread unreliable information about the actions of the Russian authorities.

In Moscow, the owner of the shop ‘Vedmin put’ (Witch’s Way) has been fined under the public desecration of religious symbols (part 2 of Article 5.26 of the Code of Administrative Offences). This was reported by the Telegram channel for Moscow’s courts of general jurisdiction.

“According to the administrative offence report, ‘Vedmin put’ sells products that offend the feelings of Orthodox Christian believers, namely candles in the form of distorted icons, with depictions of saints, upside-down eight-pointed crosses, and other similar goods,” says the statement.

The justice of the peace for Court District No. 374 of the Tagansky District fined self-employed business owner Anna Avdeeva 100,000 rubles (approximately US$1,100).

Previously, activists from the Orthodox movement ‘Sorok Sorokov’ reported the shop to the authorities. In February, they visited the shop and called the police. The pro-government Telegram channel SHOT claimed at the time that candles shaped like ripped-out hearts and sexual organs, figurines of devils and demons, as well as books published by Ukrainian publishers were being sold there. “All of them were devoted to black magic, the occult and similar topics,” the channel wrote. In the published video, SHOT only showed one book, printed in Kharkiv in 2020—it was about folk superstitions near the church.

Orthodox activists have said they will push for the shop to be closed, and for its owner to be held liable under the law on offence against believers’ feelings.

After this raid, Avdeeva said that the activists behaved rudely, intimidated an employee, broke a camera, and entered the storeroom. The shop’s CCTV camera recorded conversations between the activists and an employee. One activist, dressed in camouflage, said he needed to be sent to war: “You need to go to the trenches for six months and you’ll become a real man. We’ll sort it out for you through the military recruitment office.”

“We have the right to sell goods not banned by law. We have the right to practise esoteric rituals if they are legal. The right to sell items for these practices. The activists’ actions amount to vigilante justice and violate the rights of shop staff <…> Actions aimed at suppressing the religious beliefs of others must be condemned and stopped,” the shop stated after the raid.

‘Vedmin put’ is located in the Tagansky District of Moscow. “It’s a magical shop in the centre of Moscow, with a wide range of handcrafted ritual candles and unique magical goods,” the description on Avdeeva’s website read before the court decision. Now, there is no mention of the shop on her website.

Telegram has deleted the channel of the St Petersburg-based publication MR7, which recently lost its media licence following a demand from Roskomnadzor. ASTRA drew attention to this.

Initially, when attempting to access the channel, it was marked as private. Later, a new channel titled ‘1’ was created under its link, where an image of a cat was posted, SOTA reported. Now, attempting to follow the MR7 channel address shows a message saying that such a page does not exist.

According to Paperpaper.ru, the MR7 editorial team suspects the channel was deliberately hacked to hijack its link. Before this incident, the channel had about 2,600 subscribers.

The outlet also told Rotonda that they plan to discuss the situation with Telegram’s administration. The publication noted the channel was registered to an editorial phone number—its user received no warnings from the messenger and is confident they did not click any malicious links.

According to Important Stories, channels in Telegram usually become private when illegal content is found in them, such as advertisements for drug sales.

In January, the Supreme Court of Russia, acting on Roskomnadzor’s request, revoked MR7’s media licence. The regulatory agency explained its demand was due to the absence of ‘foreign agent’ labelling on two news items on MR7’s website, even though the outlet added the labels after being warned and paid fines for their omission.

In April, several channels that Roskomnadzor had sought to have removed in court disappeared from Telegram. Among them was the anonymous channel ‘VChK-OGPU,’ which had over a million subscribers and posted about crime in government, law enforcement, and military agencies. Its administrators accused the messenger platform of deleting the channel. Telegram’s press office stated that the ‘VChK-OGPU’ channel was deleted by its owner and added: “Possibly as a result of unauthorised access.”

The Yeltsin Centre has cancelled a lecture by philosophy populariser Dmitry Khaustov following a post on the channel “UralLive,” which is connected to Vladimir Solovyov’s propaganda team in the Urals. This was reported by the outlet It’s My City.

According to journalists, Khaustov’s lecture “Gilles Deleuze: An Assembly Guide” was meant to take place today at 19:00. Earlier in the day, the “UralLive” channel posted that the philosophy populariser had spoken out against the war in Ukraine. The channel was also outraged that Khaustov “called the special military operation ‘necropolitical newspeak that turns people into the living dead.’”

A few hours after the post, the Yeltsin Centre announced the lecture was cancelled. No reason was given.

It’s My City notes that this is already the third event since the start of the year to be cancelled following complaints from nationalists in the “Russian Community” and posts by the “UralLive” channel.

In April, the Yeltsin Centre removed director Vladimir Mirzoev’s play “I Killed the Tsar” from its programme, and in February a meeting was disrupted with the poet German Lukomnikov. According to “UralLive” and the “Russian Community,” the individuals involved supposedly hold anti-Russian views.

Because of the music video by the band Nogu Svelo for the song “Hymn of the Doomed,” Vyacheslav Smirnov, a resident of St Petersburg, was fined 30,000 roubles (approximately US$330). This was reported by the joint press service of the St Petersburg courts.

According to them, Smirnov published the musicians’ video on his social media account (the specific platform is not mentioned).

The court found: “That is, intentionally, with the aim of undermining the authority of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and citizens’ trust in the current government, he discredited the character, goals, and objectives of the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation outside the territory of the Russian Federation.”

Smirnov did not admit guilt. He stated that he had not posted the song “Hymn of the Doomed” on his page; there was only a link to the video, not the video itself. Nevertheless, the court fined Smirnov under the article on public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the Russian Armed Forces (Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences).

In March this year, the man was detained by FSB officers and police. As reported by the court press service, Smirnov had been selling old watches online and had corresponded with a buyer for several weeks. At a meeting with the buyer, an administrative offence report was drawn up against him for a WhatsApp profile picture featuring the words “Glory to Ukraine.” At that point, security forces also found the link to “Hymn of the Doomed” on his phone.

For the profile picture, a report was made against him for propaganda of Nazi symbols (Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). The court sentenced him to 10 days’ arrest.

• The band Nogu Svelo released the track “Hymn of the Doomed” (“Goida, orcs!”) in November 2022. It is dedicated to Russian soldiers and Russian citizens who support the war in Ukraine. The music video for the song was created in collaboration with Oleg Kuvayev, the animator of “Masyanya.”

In St Petersburg, the soloist of the band “Silver machine,” Alexey Sidorov, was fined 20,000 roubles (approx. US$220) over the song “Zа наших.” The Primorsky District Court found signs of incitement to hatred or enmity in the track (Art. 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences), according to the press service of the St Petersburg courts.

The song is performed from the perspective of state authorities calling citizens to go to war. The press service statement refers to an expert assessment that concluded: “The primary intent of the materials under examination may be defined as satire with elements of sarcasm.” At the same time, “the ambiguity of the language means that the appeals expressed may be perceived by recipients as calls for violent, including terrorist, actions.”

The press service describes Sidorov as a member of the left-radical movement “Workers’ Power.”

In annexed Sevastopol, the local theatre was forced to cancel performances by a Moscow theatre due to having in its repertoire productions by a late director who had taken a pro-Ukrainian stance. This was reported by Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-appointed head of Sevastopol, on his channel.

The Moscow Vakhtangov Theatre was scheduled to perform three plays on the stage of the Lunacharsky Theatre in Sevastopol, two of which—“The Wind Rustles in the Poplars” and “King Oedipus”—were at one time directed by Lithuanian director Rimas Tuminas. Tuminas had been the artistic director of the Vakhtangov Theatre since 2007, stepped down in May 2022, and died in Lithuania in 2024.

“For those who don’t know: after the start of the ‘special military operation,’ Rimas said that Moscow should be bombed and wanted to stage the play ‘My Friend Bandera,’ but he himself went to his fascist idol. He is a traitor. And I consider it especially blasphemous to show the work of a traitor in Russia’s patriotic capital, in Sevastopol,” wrote Razvozhayev.

The occupation official also promised to reprimand the management of the local Department of Culture and the Lunacharsky Theatre.

The TV channel TV3 has blurred pacifist and queer symbols on the clothing of a character in the French animated series “Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir.” The Telegram channel “Khlopok” (“Clap”) drew attention to this.

In the fourth episode of the sixth season, the character Mylène Haprèle appeared with several badges on her overalls. The censorship targeted both a badge featuring the LGBTQIA+ progress pride flag and a badge with a peace sign coloured in the Rastafarian flag’s hues.

According to the authors of “Khlopok,” the second badge may have been blurred out because Rastafarianism is associated with cannabis use. Another possible reason is the peace symbol itself, which is often used by opponents of the war in Ukraine.

Apple and SoundCloud have blocked songs by Noize MC and Monetochka for listeners in Russia. This was reported by the Roskomsvoboda project.

According to the project, Apple has blocked eight tracks, including “Strana Dozhdei” (“Land of Rains”), “Ne vse doma” (“Not All There”), “Kooperativ ‘Lebedinoye Ozero’” (“Swan Lake Cooperative”), and “Kriokamery” (“Cryochambers”). At the end of March, these songs appeared in the register of banned websites. Roskomsvoboda notes that the eight tracks blocked by Apple include different versions of the same songs.

Roskomnadzor explained that tracks from Noize MC’s new album “Ne vse doma” (“Not All There”), released this year and featuring a track of the same name, are being blocked, including on “Yandex.Music,” for “dissemination of false socially significant information.”

The song “Childfree,” performed by Noize MC and Monetochka, was also blocked. It has disappeared from Apple Music, and the album containing it is not available on SoundCloud. However, the instrumental version of the track, which contains no lyrics, has not been blocked by Apple. There has been no official announcement by Russian authorities regarding a ban on the song “Childfree.”

At the same time, SoundCloud has blocked only some of the tracks from Noize MC’s “Ne vse doma” album, as well as “Childfree,” which was uploaded to the platform separately, outside of the album release.

In Yekaterinburg, police detained a woman because of blue and yellow stripes on her jacket, reports E1.ru.

Security forces detained 53-year-old Yekaterinburg resident Lyudmila on 9 May. She was wearing a dark jacket featuring Mickey Mouse and stripes in yellow, blue, and grey. Her daughter Anastasia was present at the time of the detention, filming what was happening.

“Your mother is being detained on suspicion of committing an administrative offence under [article] 20.3 of the Russian Code of Administrative Offences. Signs of extremism are present,” said the officer.

Anastasia pointed out that their family is originally from Kazakhstan, whose flag uses blue and yellow. “They’re detaining people for no reason at the celebration,” she says on camera.

In the background, an officer asks, “Who are you working for?,” then says, “This citizen is working for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.” Another male voice adds: “Yes, you see, she’s got a Ukrainian flag.” “Working for enemy intelligence is not good,” says, presumably, one of the police officers.

Anastasia said that they bought the jacket in Yekaterinburg:

“We bought the jacket at a boutique in the Pekin shopping centre on the second floor. It cost 12,000 rubles (about US$130). There are three stripes: grey, yellow, and blue. The same jackets are sold to Chinese people and in other colours, too. It’s just absurd. Mum wrote a statement of explanation. But they confiscated the jacket. I even offered for her to recolour it right there (we had markers with us). But no. I feel sorry for the jacket.”

Maxim Shkola from Belgorod has been fined for sharing photos of Putin with obscene comments, which he posted on VKontakte nine years ago. This was reported by the outlet “Pepel,” which noted the court decision.

The decision states that officers from Centre “E” found “images of the President of the Russian Federation in an indecent, offensive form, accompanied by obscene, abusive language” on the man’s VKontakte page. The posts were made from April to September 2016.

In court, Shkola admitted his guilt, said he regretted his actions, and deleted the images. He also deleted his social media page.

On 27 March, the Oktyabrsky District Court in Belgorod fined him 50,000 roubles (approx. US$540) for “disrespect for the authorities” (Part 3 of Article 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences).