News

The Valday District Court in Novgorod Region fined the radio station “Novgorodskaya Volna” and its editor-in-chief over songs by Zemfira, Noize MC and Morgenstern. This was reported by the publication Pskovskaya Guberniya.

The reason was that in November, these tracks were aired without stating that the artists are “foreign agents.” The radio station was fined 40,000 roubles (approx. US$440), and the editor-in-chief was fined 4,000 roubles (approx. US$44).

In Kazan, a large city on the Volga River, the exhibition by artist Ivan Stan, “The Finiteness of Infinity,” was cancelled right at the opening. This was reported by the Telegram channel “VTP | Understood in Tatarstan”.

The exhibition was supposed to take place at the “Contemporary Art Gallery of Supermodern.” The event was cancelled at the initiative of the gallery director, who saw “satanism” in Stan’s works. Particular attention was drawn to a painting depicting a rider on a horse resembling a phallus.

“People are concerned by themes of catastrophe, death, decay, and war. These are exactly the subjects I address in my works. People must do their utmost to preserve their own world, so as not to end up in the lifeless desert shown in my paintings,” Ivan Stan writes about his works.

The Dorogomilovsky Court in Moscow has issued Lev Mironov a fine for kissing a statue of Metro builders at Elektrozavodskaya station “in front of underage friends.” Activatica drew attention to the case.

The young man was found guilty under the article on “LGBT propaganda” (Part 2, Article 6.21 of the Code of Administrative Offences). The amount of the fine is not specified, but the court decision states that “non-traditional” in this case consists of two elements: “not directed at a person; directed at a depiction of someone of the same gender.”

The video—where teenagers attack a Yandex courier, seize his box of food, run out onto the road and kiss the monument—originally appeared on the “Pravye Highlights” Telegram channel.

On 10 December 2024, Alexander Basansky, a resident of Rostov region in southern Russia, was sentenced to 15 days in jail under the article concerning the display of banned symbols (Part 1, Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). This information was published on the website of the Novocherkassk City Court, as noted by the SOVA research centre.

The case was prompted by two posts the man made on VKontakte. In one of them, he referred to the white-blue-white flag as “the flag of a free Russia of the future” and attached an image of it. The second post featured a photograph of a T-shirt with the words “Navalny’s Team.”

The Petrozavodsk City Court has fined Karelia-based journalist Denis Pogrebnoy 30 thousand rubles (approximately US$330) for anti-war posts and poems on the internet. This was reported by Novaya Gazeta and the Telegram channel From Karelia with freedom.

The journalist was found guilty under the administrative offence of “discrediting the Russian army” (Art. 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). Ten posts published on VKontakte in 2023 and 2024 were cited in the case, including a post in support of his colleague Natalya Sevets-Yermolina, who at that time had been declared a “foreign agent.”

“More and more of my friends are becoming foreign agents! I’m proud of Yermolina! After all (let me clarify right away), this status doesn’t mean ‘traitor,’ as some dyed-in-the-wool patriots might think, but rather a sensible and free person,” Pogrebnoy’s post was quoted by From Karelia with freedom as saying.

The journalist himself did not attend the court hearing, as he had left the country. He was represented in court by his lawyer, Natalia Chernova, who read out Pogrebnoy’s position.

“My aim is to inform my fellow citizens about what is going on around them, whether during working hours or in my free time. Doing so is an essential part of democracy and freedom of speech, as guaranteed by the Russian Constitution,” Pogrebnoy’s statement was quoted by Novaya Gazeta.

His counsel supported the journalist and added that he has the right to express his personal opinion, and that criticism of the authorities is not the same as discrediting the (Russian) army.

In October 2024, the activist was detained ahead of an event commemorating the victims of the 1993 White House shootings. He was charged with a repeat offence of violating protest legislation (Part 8, Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code), but at that time the court returned the case files to the police. He was later sentenced to one day’s detention, which he served while already in the station following his arrest. In 2023, the court issued Lopatin a warning for calling on people to attend a protest demanding the mayor’s resignation.

15:50 Lopatin is being charged with displaying Nazi symbols in a post on the “Antifa ru” channel, which reports the arrest of a suspected member of the far-right group Made With Hate. The post includes photos and videos of far-right activists, including some next to their graffiti on walls.

18:33 Lopatin was taken from the police station by ambulance, reports RusNews. The reason for hospitalisation is not yet known.

20:57 Lopatin has been hospitalised at City Emergency Hospital No. 10 “Elektronika,” his lawyer Dmitry Bereznikov told OVD-Info.

He added that a court hearing in Lopatin’s administrative case was scheduled for the following day, but Lopatin has now been admitted to hospital for at least three days. According to his lawyer, Lopatin is in a pre-stroke condition, and before being hospitalised he complained of fever, severe headache and palpitations.

Even before the hospitalisation, the Telegram channel “Soviet Revenge” reported that at the police station Lopatin had complained of feeling unwell. This was why an ambulance was called. That channel also described the activist’s condition as pre-stroke.

21 January The Central District Court of Voronezh fined Lopatin one thousand roubles (about US$11) for displaying prohibited symbols (Part 1, Article 20.3 of the Administrative Code), his lawyer Dmitry Bereznikov told OVD-Info.

He stated that yesterday, 20 January, Lopatin was discharged from hospital after his condition improved. Lopatin spent three days there.

Oleg Markin, a resident of Novgorod region, was fined 1,500 roubles (approximately US$16) on 26 December for posting on VKontakte “a graphic image of a mythical creature with wings at a sewing machine, sewing a six-coloured flag, and a mythical creature standing by a waterfall with a six-coloured rainbow.” Markin was found guilty of displaying prohibited symbols (Article 20.3, part 1 of the Russian Code of Administrative Offences). The SOVA Centre has highlighted the ruling of the Novgorod District Court.

The court ruling states that Pavlishchev published on Instagram “graphic materials, including some featuring the ‘OPEN RUSSIA’ emblem.”

The Nagatinsky District Court of Moscow fined sociologist and research fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, Margarita Zavadskaya, 15,000 rubles (approximately US$170) under the article on participation in the activities of an “undesirable organisation” (Article 20.33 of the Code of Administrative Offences). This was reported by Mediazona.

A protocol was drawn up against her over an interview with Meduza about Yevgeny Prigozhin’s armed uprising, which was published in June 2024.

Zavadskaya researches the political influence of Russian emigration in host countries. After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she gave lectures about emigration for the Free University and appeared on the YouTube channels of Radio Liberty and Golosa.

A Moscow court has sentenced local resident Alexei K. to 15 days in detention over a question about the RDC flag. This was reported by “Ostorozhno, novosti” (“Caution, News”).

In 2023, Alexei K. asked in the comments section of RDC founder Denis Kapustin where he could buy the movement’s flag. Alexei K. also attached the RDC logo to his post.

In January 2025, while Alexei K. was serving an administrative sentence in another case for petty hooliganism (Art. 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences), law enforcement officers discovered the comment. The Moscow resident was charged with displaying banned symbols (Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). In court, he stated that he had left the comment before the RDC was banned and had forgotten to delete it.

A protocol has been drawn up against Sergey Kustov, chief editor of the pro-government media outlet “IvanovoNEWS | BARS,” for “discrediting the Russian army” (Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences) due to a typo in the surname of a soldier, reports 7×7.

In November, the outlet published the names of 17 soldiers from Ivanovo region who went missing during the war in Ukraine. According to Kustov, the police officer considered a mistake in one of the surnames to be “spreading unchecked information as factual.”

“Don’t you want to look into the eyes of the mothers who for a year now haven’t known where their sons are? Don’t you want to explain to a son or daughter when they will be able to receive their father’s body, so they can bury him with dignity? … Of course, it’s much easier to slap me with a 300,000-ruble (about US$3,300) fine to silence everyone who’s ready to give a voice to the families of those missing in action…,” wrote the chief editor.

“IvanovoNEWS | BARS” openly supports the war. Earlier, Kustov said the police officer simply wants to “settle scores” because the outlet demands punishment for another senior Interior Ministry employee, “who blatantly lies and whose actions show signs of a criminal offence.”

The Central District Court of Novokuznetsk has fined first-year student Aleksandr Gaan from the Kemerovo Institute of Food Industry Technology over a humorous video featuring an image of Adolf Hitler, which he posted on VKontakte six years ago. The court’s decision was noted by the SOVA Research Centre.

On 6 December, Gaan was fined 1,000 roubles (about US$11) under the article on displaying Nazi symbols (Part 1, Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences).

The court ruling says that the video was discovered in November 2024 on the student’s page, which he managed under the name “Sanya Galaktionov.” In his video section, he had uploaded a clip titled “Saint Jesus,” which had originally been posted eight years prior in a humorous group of the same name. The video consists of documentary footage of Hitler’s speeches, Nazi supporters and soldiers. Over these visuals plays a song from a cough syrup advertisement for “Ambrobene,” which begins: “I arrive from Germany, bringing a healing syrup.”

In court, Gaan admitted guilt and said he had deleted the video from his page.

“We believe Gaan was punished unlawfully. From our point of view, those who should be held liable under Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences are people who use Nazi symbols to promote the relevant ideology. The video Gaan added to his page is purely humorous in nature, and there is no reason to think it was used to promote Nazism,” the SOVA Centre noted.

On 10 January, the Tushinsky District Court in Moscow sentenced B. Salimov, a citizen of Uzbekistan, to 14 days’ administrative arrest for wearing a cap with the inscription “AUE.” The relevant ruling has been published on the court’s website. The outlet “Ostorozhno, Moskva” drew attention to the case.

Salimov was found guilty under the article on displaying the symbols of an extremist organisation (Part 1, Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). According to the ruling, on 9 January Salimov was in an underground passage when police officers spotted his cap, “which had an image of an eight-pointed star on the side and the abbreviation ‘AUE’ on the visor.”

In August 2020, the Supreme Court of Russia declared the “Arrestants’ Criminal Unity” (AUE) a so-called extremist movement. The SOVA Centre noted that “AUE” is not a unified movement and does not have a political ideology.

The Garden of Eden exhibition by the artist Pavel Brat from Voronezh was cancelled after a denunciation. It was open for only one day. This was reported by 7×7—Horizontal Russia.

The exhibition was held at the Station creative cluster. As Brat explained, after the opening, on the morning of 10 January, representatives of the venue called him and said that the security service had checked the artist’s social media and “decided to close the exhibition.”

“Discrediting… Well, no one will send me any official letter, who am I here. I arrived in time for the opening hours of the exhibition, but security didn’t even let me inside, and then they informed me that I would only be allowed in for dismantling. <…> I hoped that my favourite strategy of personal invitations to my exhibitions, together with a single public announcement a month before the start, would help avoid attracting unnecessary attention from our local Aunt ‘Korobkova’ <…>, but alas,” Brat wrote on Instagram.

In December 2022, one day after opening, Brat’s Maps of Meaning exhibition in the House of Architects in Voronezh, a major city in southwestern Russia, was cancelled following a complaint over his anti-war stance. As Brat recounted, someone reported to the deputy head of the regional government, Konstantin Kuznetsov, who is responsible for architecture, that “the artist is an extremist and spoke out about the war in March and February.”

Inna Tishkina, a resident of Krasnodar—a major city in southern Russia—was fined four times in one day for anti-war posts on X (formerly Twitter) after being reported by a local deputy. This was reported by '7×7—Horizontal Russia'.

The Leninsky District Court of Krasnodar, on 26 December 2024, reviewed four protocols against Tishkina. Three of these were under the article on “discrediting the army” (Art. 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences), while another was for “insulting the authorities” (Art. 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences). For each administrative case, the woman was fined 30,000 roubles (approx. US$330), with the total fine amounting to 120,000 roubles (approx. US$1,325).

Tishkina was detained on 26 December following a report by Sergei Klimov, a deputy from the village of Severskaya representing the “New People” party. The security services-linked Telegram channel “NKB SMERSH Kubani” published a video showing the woman apologising after her detention. She was also forced to sing the Russian national anthem.

Klimov published screenshots of Tishkina’s posts on X. In one of them, the woman wrote about the letter Z on a passer-by’s backpack: When will these scumbags finally draw it on their foreheads. After her detention, the Krasnodar resident closed her account on the social network.

In St Petersburg, the Otto Dix concert scheduled for 26 January has been cancelled. The group’s announcement has been highlighted by “Bumaga.”

A representative for Otto Dix noted that the concert was cancelled “for reasons beyond the control of the group and organisers.”

As “Bumaga” points out, shortly before this announcement appeared, the pro-government Telegram channel “Russian Community of St Petersburg” published a call for people to contact the Investigative Committee and prosecutor’s office demanding an inspection of the band.

In December, activists from the “Russian Community” came to the Pravda club in Moscow and demanded the Otto Dix concert be cancelled to “stop Satanism and LGBT propaganda.” At the time, a club representative refused to call off the event. “Challenge accepted. Satanism will not prevail,” the “Russian Community” responded. The same day, Otto Dix cancelled the concert planned for 22 December.

In October, riot police disrupted the group’s concerts in Yaroslavl and Nizhny Novgorod—major cities in central Russia. On 15 December, an Otto Dix concert in St Petersburg was cancelled just a few hours before it was due to begin due to provocations from the “Russian Community.”

Two residents of Khabarovsk have been fined under the article on displaying the symbols of an extremist organisation (Part 1, Article 20.3 of the Administrative Code) because of stickers reading “I/We are Sergei Furgal.” This was reported by “7×7.”

On 2 December, the Industrial District Court of Khabarovsk fined Filipp Kurakin 1,000 roubles (about US$11). He was charged because of a sticker on the rear window of his car. In court, the man said he had bought the car with the sticker already on it, and did not know that “I/We are Sergei Furgal” had been banned as a movement.

On 5 December, the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Khabarovsk issued a similar fine to another local resident, Oleg Grudinov, because of the same kind of sticker on his car. In court, he admitted his guilt and said that “I put the sticker on out of stupidity and forgot about it.”

In February 2024, the Khabarovsk Regional Court declared the “I/We are Sergei Furgal” movement an extremist organisation and banned its activities. According to the prosecutor’s office, which brought the lawsuit, the movement “under the guise of defending and supporting the former governor” called for banned activities and used “various political technologies,” including the organisation of unauthorised rallies.

In Russia, scenes mentioning Ramzan Kadyrov and drugs have been cut from the Russian release of the Canadian film “Simple comme Sylvain” (“The Nature of Love”). This was reported by film critic Timur Aliyev on his Telegram channel, “Commandant of the Fortress of Cinema.”

In one scene, the main character and her husband are walking in a park, discussing dictators. In the original version, the man says his “favourite dictator” is Ramzan Kadyrov; the woman, in turn, names former Turkmenistan president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov. In the Russian cinematic release, this scene is almost entirely missing.

In another scene, one of the characters says they have MDMA, while holding an object in their hand. In the cinema version, these few seconds have also been removed.

Yet another excerpt was edited, where a character says the phrase: “I’m a 42-year-old homosexual.” In the Russian release, this was dubbed as: “I’m quite a man.”

The Canadian film “The Nature of Love” by Monia Chokri was released in Russian cinemas in February 2024. The edited version is also being shown on Russian online streaming services Kion, Okko, Premier, Wink, Ivi, and Kinopoisk.

A protocol was drawn up against the TV Centre channel for “demonstrating LGBT relationships” to minors without an “18+” age restriction (part 2 of article 6.21.2 of the Administrative Offences Code). This was reported by the outlet Mediazona.

The administrative case has been submitted to the Tagansky District Court in Moscow. It is not yet known which film or TV series triggered the protocol against the channel.

In June last year, the general director of the NTS TV channel was fined 100,000 rubles (approximately US$1,100) over a video by Svetlana Loboda. They were found guilty under the same article, as the music video titled Indie Rock (Vogue) was shown on air with a “16+” age rating.

The Smolninsky District Court in St Petersburg has sentenced local resident Nikita Altunin to 14 days' administrative arrest over a tattoo featuring the Ukrainian trident (Article 20.3, Part 1 of the Code of Administrative Offences). This was reported by the city’s unified court press office.

The press office clarified that the trident “offends our multinational people and the memory of those who perished in the Great Patriotic War,” and is also “an official symbol of Ukrainian nationalists.”

It was noted that the complaint against Altunin was filed by a citizen, Ya., to whom the arrested person had shown the tattoo on his chest. The young man was detained on 6 January, and the court hearing took place on 9 January: Altunin admitted his guilt, adding that he is a Ukrainian citizen.

On 24 November, the Leninsky District Court of Cheboksary fined Anatoly Popov 30,000 roubles (approx. US$330) under the law on “discrediting” the Russian army (part 1, article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences) for holding a solo anti-war picket. The court’s decision was noted by Mediazona.

He stood outside the “Dom Mod” shopping centre with a poster that read: “No to war!!! Not War.” It is not known when the protest took place.

Speaking in court, Popov explained that he was “not against the special operation. It’s just his worldview—war is always bad. He was calling for peace. His actions were due to the fact that he was in a state of intoxication.”

On 3 January, the Yakutsk City Court fined Number One club-restaurant’s owner, the company LLC “Jinlun,” 250,000 roubles (approximately US$2,800), finding it guilty under the article on organising a mass gathering of people in a public place that resulted in a breach of public order (Part 1, Article 20.2.2 of the Code of Administrative Offences). The press service of the region’s courts reported this.

The owners of the club were charged over a show during which, according to the court, “people were present in a state of undress that demeaned human dignity” and there was “promotion of non-traditional sexual relations.”

On the afternoon of 2 January, in Number One, law enforcement arrived and detained bartenders, waiters and the executive director; there were no performers in the club-restaurant at the time. Earlier, the Yakutsk administrative commission’s Telegram channel reported that since 26 December shows had been held featuring “transgender women from Thailand and men of non-traditional sexual orientation.” Yakutsk is the capital city of the Sakha Republic in northeast Russia.

The head of the administrative commission, Felix Antonov, took part in the raid on the club. “In the videos circulated on social media, it is clear that they are transvestites. They were dancing with each other, promoting non-traditional values,” the official stated.

The magistrate of judicial district No. 463 in Troitsk has fined Anton Evdokimov, a resident of New Moscow, 100,000 rubles (approximately US$1,100) for a post in which he admitted to creating the “LGBTQ+ extremist organisation.” He is currently being held in a pre-trial detention centre in connection with another case. Telegram channel “Crime 6.21” and “Mediazona” drew attention to this.

The man was found guilty under the article on the promotion of non-traditional sexual relations (Part 3 of Article 6.21 of the Code of Administrative Offences). The basis for the charge was two posts on Evdokimov’s VKontakte page on 6 December 2023—just a week after the non-existent “LGBT movement” was declared an extremist organisation.

The first post attributed to the man was a photo of a rainbow flag; the second was a tongue-in-cheek confession by Evdokimov in which he claimed he had founded the “LGBTQ+ extremist organisation.” According to the court’s decision, the man gave four approving assessments of the movement.

“Well, since LGBT has been banned, I have to come clean—I AM THE FOUNDER AND MAIN ORGANISER OF THE EXTREMIST ORGANISATION—LGBTQ+! I studied at a lyceum called ‘Rainbow’… that’s where they recruited me, and now I’m exposing all the homophobes to the Rainbow! Every time a homophobe looks at a rainbow—they get a tickling sensation in their arse and start craving to suck cock! It’s all my doing!) I’ll lure everyone into this lair! Boo! Beware, FSB suckers—waiting for you with a dumbbell—we’ll do some squats!,” wrote Anton Evdokimov.

At present, Evdokimov remains in a pre-trial detention centre on charges of “justifying terrorism” (Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code) over a post about the Crimean Bridge explosion. According to the court ruling, the day before his flat was searched—on 22 October—law enforcement officers found LGBTQ+ publications on his page. A relative of Evdokimov told OVD-Info that he had taken part in protests more than once, and that the case was initiated against him following a report from an unidentified individual.

The administrative commission of Yakutsk city hall has reported a local club for a show featuring transgender performers, according to a post on the commission’s Telegram channel.

The channel states that since 26 December, public “promotion of non-traditional sexual relations and gender transition” has been taking place at the Number One club “with the participation of invited transgender women from Thailand and men of non-traditional orientation.”

The commission accused the club of “LGBT propaganda” (Article 6.21, Part 1 of the Administrative Offences Code) and filed complaints with the prosecutor’s office and police. Under this article, legal entities can be fined up to 1 million rubles (around US$11,000) and have operations suspended for up to 90 days, while foreigners (Part 5, Article 6.21) face fines of up to 100,000 rubles (about US$1,100) or arrest for up to 15 days followed by deportation.

Officials reported the club after a Telegram channel, “Spicy Yakutia,” which has over 15,000 subscribers, filed a complaint about it. The channel drew attention to videos from the club, claiming that “the corruption of the male population” was happening right under the noses of the security forces and officials. The channel also published comments from subscribers demanding that the club be closed.

10:06 The outlet SakhaDay.ru reports that police detained the club’s executive director, bartenders and waiters for questioning. Security forces and officials who visited the club did not find the transgender performers there.

“The videos circulated on social media show that these are transvestites,” the head of the commission, Felix Antonov, told the outlet. “They were dancing with each other, promoting non-traditional values. We spoke with the club representatives but did not find the general director, only the executive director. He tried to defend himself, saying that unknown artists from Thailand had approached them the previous day and offered their services. But we pointed out that the show was advertised as running from 26 December until 8 January.”

The official added: “There will be no more such shows in Yakutsk. All the staff who were in the club have been taken to the police station for further questioning. It will now be up to the court to decide what happens next.”