Chita’s central district court has slapped a 30,000 ruble fine (€450) on Ivan Losev, a local resident, after he shared the details of a dream he had involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky which was qualified as “discreditation” of the Russian army, Siberia.Realities reports.
The man could not attend the hearing on 8 December because he was notified about the time, the outlet notes.
“I had a dream today that I had been drafted and taken to a training camp, and then the Ukrainian armed forces led by Zelensky stormed in, everyone was captured and they were reading to shoot us. At this moment, Zelensky walks past me and says, “Oh, I have seen your stories on Instagram, Glory to Ukraine!” I responded, “Glory to the Heroes!” Zelensky cheerfully pats me on the shoulder and says, “Release this one, shoot the rest.” So, me and him are standing there, looking at this, and I ask him, “Can I take a selfie with you for Instagram?” Zelensky says, “You can”, Losev said in an Instagram story that he posted on his page.
Ivan Losev. Photo: Instagram
Siberia.Realities writes that the regional office of Russia’s Federal Security Service investigated the page on 23 September. In October, the case evidence was referred to the regional anti-extremism centre, and then to court on 7 December.
Moreover, Losev is believed to have further “discredited” the Russian army in his post about the mobilisation and the war in Ukraine. “How many are they planning to draft? 300,000? A million? Whatever, the Ukrainian victory will not be deterred by this disgraceful circus,” he said in one post that is quoted by Siberia.Realities.
On 23 November, a court in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod fined Margarita Murakhtaeva 30,000 rubles (€450) for “discrediting the Russian army”, reported by Murakhtaeva herself.
Murakhtaeva is the daughter of Irina Slavina, a woman who committed self-immolation on 2 October 2020 in front of a police building in Nizhny Novgorod. Prior to that, she published a post on Facebook reading “Blame my death on the Russian Federation.” She was persecuted for “spreading fake news” and had her house searched a day before the self-immolation act.
Murakhtaeva held a solitary picket this October on the same location her mother set herself on fire. Her poster read: “My mother would say ‘Putin, screw you with your war’ but Putin killed her before that”. Margarita says she “lost her job soon afterwards, faced heavy criticism, and also lost hope for the future in Russia, but did not regret what she said a single time”.
