A resident of Nizhnevartovsk, a city in Western Siberia, has been fined 60,000 roubles (approximately US$670) for posting an anti-war TikTok and a comment about Putin.

The Nizhnevartovsk City Court has fined a local resident twice, each time for 30,000 roubles (about US$335). He was prosecuted for “discrediting” the army (Part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Offences Code) and for disrespecting the authorities (Part 3 of Article 20.1) after publishing a video filmed on election day. The court rulings were reported by Mediazona.

During the elections on 20 September, the man wrote an anti-war message on his ballot paper, took a photo with it and later published the video on TikTok and Instagram. He explained that he opposes the war and believes that people are dying pointlessly.

The publication attracted the interest of Centre E (the Centre for Combating Extremism). A staff member concluded that the video “discredits” the Russian army and “undermines” its authority.

Another charge was brought over a comment under the video. In this comment, the man spoke about Vladimir Putin “in an obscene manner.” He explained his response by saying that he is “dissatisfied with his policies and believes that because of him there is an armed conflict and people are dying.”

In court, the man admitted his guilt for both charges. He explained the comment about Putin as being due to his “psychological state.”