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The Ordzhonikidze District Court in Yekaterinburg fined 42-year-old Andrey Voloshin 150,000 roubles (approx. US$1,600) in a criminal case over repeat “discreditation” of the army (Article 280.3, part 1, of the Criminal Code). Mediazona reports this.
The verdict was delivered on 26 August. Initially, the court set Voloshin’s fine at 200,000 roubles (approx. US$2,100) but reduced it to 150,000 taking into account two days spent in a detention centre and nearly two months under house arrest. The prosecution had asked for two years of forced labour with 15% of his salary deducted for the state, as well as a three-year ban from holding government posts.
The case was initiated over two comments Voloshin posted on VKontakte in 2025. In one, he criticised Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; in the other, he compared the letters Z and V with Nazi symbolism. In court, he pleaded guilty, apologised, and explained that the comments had been written during an argument with other users.
During his arrest on 17 April, security officers tortured Voloshin with electric shocks, demanding he unlock his phone, pushed his face into gravel, and threatened to cut off his finger. Officers also tried to suffocate him with a plastic bag and later beat him on the head at the police station.
Mediazona found that security forces also searched Voloshin’s garage. After the search, two spanners, a magnetic torch, and a diagnostic car connector were missing.
Voloshin now works as a taxi driver, and previously was a driver at an enterprise connected to the defence industry.