A Novomoskovsk district court has fined DJ Sergey Vasilyev 40,000 rubles (€520) for playing a song by Ukrainian duet Potap & Nastya while Vladimir Putin’s New Year’s address to the nation was being broadcast on TV, Mediazona reports, citing a statement by the Tula region courts joint press service.
The man was found guilty of “discrediting” Russian forces. The court established that he had been playing the song by Potap & Nastya from 23:50 until 23:59 in a bar in the Tula region city of Novomoskovsk on 31 December 2022.
“The actions of S.A. Vasilyev led to a video being shared on social media. In the video, a song of the aforementioned group is in the background of the address by the President of the Russian Federation, the words of the song were perceived as distorted and dissonant,” the press service statement reads.
Vasilyev pleaded not guilty.
The same court previously fined Tula resident Stanislav Yermakov 45,000 rubles (€585) for filming Putin’s address with this song in the background and sending the video to a WhatsApp group.
