A couple were detained and fined for sharing pro-Ukraine personal opinions during a private conversation at a Russian café, in a first-of-its-kind case.
Alexei and Olesya Ovchinnikov were dining with a friend in Krasnodar, southern Russia, when another customer overheard their conversation about Ukraine.
The customer approached the table and expressed indignation over unspecified pro-Ukrainian remarks, the couple’s lawyer Alexei Avanesyan told Russian media.
The owner of the café then called the police, leading to the arrest and fine.
Freedom of speech crackdown
The incident is one of the most far-reaching examples of Russia cracking down on free speech and censoring references to what Vladimir Putin, the country’s president, calls a “special operation” in Ukraine.
A video published by local media showed the police handcuffing the couple with the wife sitting on the floor, laughing and saying: “Glory to Ukraine! Glory to heroes!”
Court filings showed the woman was fined an equivalent of £12, while the man was placed into custody for 15 days in the first known case of authorities going after anti-war Russians for private remarks.
Prosecutors are also pressing charges of “discrediting the Russian armed forces” against Ms Ovchinnikova, which could carry a fine or a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
It came as one of Russia’s best-known museums is facing pressure to revamp its display to reflect the Kremlin-promoted conservative values.
Russia’s culture minister has sent an official letter urging the director of the Tretyakov Gallery, one of Russia’s most-visited galleries, to rejig its collection of late 20th century Russian art.
The letter, first reported by The Moscow Times, quoted a complaint from a Russian citizen who claimed that some of Tretyakov’s pieces of artwork “do not fully comply with Russia’s moral and spiritual values”, citing last year’s decree by Putin mapping out the “values” his government needs to promote.
The complaint specifically took issues with works depicting scenes of funerals and binge-drinking.
Private galleries and state-funded museums such as Tretyakov have not largely faced censorship since the fall of the Soviet Union, as the Kremlin showed little interest in the art world.
On Friday, a court in western Siberia sentenced a 20-year-old man to 12 years in a high-security prison for setting a military recruitment office on fire, something that prosecutors classified as terrorism.
Terrorism offences
Vladislav Borisenko reportedly threw several Molotov cocktails at a draft office in the oil town of Nizhnevartovsk last May.
For a few months last year, arson attacks against military recruitment offices were reported across the country daily as the offices were largely seen as a symbol of the Russian invasion.
If caught, the attackers were typically charged with misdemeanour and fined in the past. However, Russian rights activists noted late last year that authorities began to classify attacks against draft offices as terrorism, which can be subject to a lengthy prison sentence.
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