Vladimir Putin and others: reasons for being fined under the law on insulting society: Human rights news from Russia, court updates & analysis | 6 related articles

27.09.2025

15:53

A protocol was drawn up against Andrei Morozov from Volgograd for insulting the state (Part 3 of Article 20.1 of the Administrative Code) and for inciting hatred or enmity (Article 20.3.1 of the Administrative Code) over a meme reading “Russia is fucking awesome, bro.” This was reported by “Ostorozhno, novosti.”

An administrative case was opened on 15 September. The reason was a video featuring a Brazilian football fan shouting “Russia is fucking awesome, bro” to the camera during the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Morozov published the video on his VKontakte page.

The court, meanwhile, found no offence in the video and concluded that the phrase “Russia is fucking awesome, bro” does not insult the country or incite hatred. The case was dismissed.

19.07.2025

18:58

This story contained information about politically motivated persecution. The person featured in this news item requested that their story be removed for safety reasons. As a human rights project, we cannot ignore such requests, so we are deleting the news text.

16.05.2025

12:58

Saint Petersburg

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.

10.05.2025

16:33

Belgorod Oblast

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).

15.03.2025

11:56

Krasnodar Krai

Blogger Yuri Ozarovsky has been fined 30,000 rubles (approximately US$340) for swearing in videos where he talked about the removal of clean sand from the beaches of Anapa, a resort city on the Black Sea. Ozarovsky shared this on his YouTube channel.

The Anapa City Court found him guilty under the article on petty hooliganism on the internet (part 3 of article 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences). “I don’t plan to swear anymore, I can’t afford it,” Ozarovsky commented.

Earlier, an officer from the Centre for Combating Extremism (“E” Centre) spoke with him about a video in which activists tried to stop machinery from removing clean sand.

After two tankers carrying oil products sank in the Black Sea on 15 December 2024, thousands of rescuers and volunteers worked to clean up oil residue from the beaches. Since February, Ozarovsky has been calling attention on social media to cases where clean sand is being removed from beaches without being sifted for oil clumps.

25.02.2025

17:50

Republic of Bashkortostan

The Kirovsky District Court in Ufa fined the publisher of the media outlet “Prufy,” Raufa Rakhimova, 30,000 roubles (about US$330) for “disrespect towards authorities” (part 3 of Article 20.1 of the Russian Code of Administrative Offences). The media outlet’s Telegram channel reported this.

The reason was a video from 2020 in which Rakhimova, an elderly woman, defended activists protecting the Kushtau hill (a small mountain in Ishimbaysky District, Bashkortostan, where local activists opposed deforestation for soda and limestone mining for several months, until September 2020, when the Bashkortostan government declared Kushtau a regional natural monument, which stopped the work) and criticised former adviser to the head of Bashkortostan, Rostislav Murzagulov. An administrative charge was filed against the media manager in December 2024.

According to the defence, the proceedings should already have been terminated due to the expiry of the statute of limitations. They also noted that Rakhimova had not posted the video in question.

Murzagulov, whom Rakhimova criticised, left Russia after the start of the war. On his YouTube channel “Rostislav Murzagulov,” formerly linked with Mikhail Khodorkovsky and previously called “Open Media,” he posts political videos. In December 2022, Murzagulov was added to the “foreign agents” register after he requested it himself, and in September 2024, he was declared wanted. He faces criminal cases for failing to fulfil the obligations of a “foreign agent” (Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code) and for spreading “military fakes” motivated by political hatred (paragraph “d” of part 2 of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code).

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Vladimir Putin and others: reasons for being fined under the law on insulting society