On 14 April, the Moscow City Court discontinued administrative proceedings for “discrediting the army” (part 1, article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences) against comedian Danila Poperechny. This is stated in the case file in the database of the capital’s courts, as noted by Mediazona.
The case was discontinued due to “lack of corpus delicti”—meaning no offence was found.
In November 2024, Poperechny was fined 50,000 roubles (US$550) over an Instagram post from 24 February 2022 that included the phrases “no to war” and “we don’t want war.” “My mother, my younger brother, and my friends live in Ukraine. I finished school there, I lived there for many years, I celebrated my graduation there, and Kyiv and Ukraine are a place that is dear to me. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, we are against the war. I am in shock; I couldn’t even imagine that I’d be recording this video this morning. We are against military actions in any form. […] Please, we don’t want war,” the comedian said in the video.
Poperechny and his defence appealed the verdict. The comedian’s lawyer insisted that the period for prosecution over this post had long since expired. Police only paid attention to the post in July 2024.
In March 2022, Poperechny left Russia. He recorded a video explaining that this decision was due to the war in Ukraine and his fear of being detained for anti-war statements. He had received threats before leaving.
In June 2024, the comedian was placed on the “foreign agents” register because of his public activities and statements against the war.
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On 17 May 2024, Alexander Zumorin was detained outside the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow while holding a sign reading: “No to war.” / Photo provided by the detainee’s wife