A resident of Kuzbass was condemned for dousing Putin’s portrait with paint

A court in the Kemerovo Region has imposed a six-month restriction of liberty on a resident of the city of Belovo, who splashed red paint on a poster with the image of President Vladimir Putin, reports the regional office of the FSB.

According to the investigation, a 57-year-old resident of Kuzbass defaced the banner because of disagreement with the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As stated in the message, the convicted person was a supporter of the “ideology of pacifism”, which he “opposed to the duty and responsibilities of a citizen of the Russian Federation to protect the Fatherland”.

The Magistrate’s Court found him guilty of vandalism motivated by political, ideological hatred and enmity. The resident of Belovo pleaded guilty and applied for the case to be heard separately – without a court hearing.

• Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, several Russians have been prosecuted on charges of vandalism in connection with their anti-war speeches. In January, the court sent Stanislav Shmakov, an employee of Tomsk State University, and two of his acquaintances under house arrest for two months, who are accused of defacing a banner in support of the war in Ukraine.
• In December, FSB officers detained Igor Pokusyn, a 60-year-old resident of Abakan, on a case of attempted treason. At the beginning of the invasion, he left two spots with yellow and blue paint on a banner with the letter Z in the center of Abakan, and wrote “Glory to Ukraine” on the building of the republican museum.