Football blogger Savin was accused of discrediting the army

An administrative case was opened against the Russian sports blogger, former football player Yevgeny Savin, based on the article on the discrediting of the Russian army.

“It’s a rare case when I’m proud of myself,” Savyn commented on the situation.

It is not known what exactly Savina is charged with. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Savin filmed and published an anti-war film on his YouTube channel. In it, Ukrainian football players talk about their experiences since the beginning of the Russian invasion. In the description of the video, there is the phrase “The war started by Russia changed the fate of every Ukrainian.” The film was watched more than 1.5 million times.

After the publication of the video, the football club owned by Savin was banned from training at the stadium in Krasnogorsk. In addition, almost all sponsors refused to finance the club – it was reported that Savin sold his apartment in order to financially support the team.

In May, 38-year-old Savin left Russia and registered his team in Cyprus.

In August, State Duma deputy from “United Russia” Roman Teryushkov sent Savin’s “informational materials” to the police, which allegedly discredit the Russian army and contain fakes about it. The Ministry of Internal Affairs handed them over to the Moscow Investigative Committee, which had to make a decision to initiate the case.

• During his football career from 2000 to 2015, Yevgeny Savyn played more than two hundred games in the Russian championship, scoring more than 50 goals. He also played several matches for the youth and Olympic teams of Russia.
• After the end of his sports career, Savin became a TV presenter – he hosted the “Cult Tour” program together with Yuri Dudy and Sergey Shnurov, commented on football matches on the “Match TV” channel. Since August 2018, he has been running his own YouTube channel about football, which has more than one million subscribers.
• At the end of 2021, Yevgeny Savin created his own football club “Krasava”.
• The administrative article on the discrediting of the Russian army appeared shortly after its invasion of Ukraine. Discreditation in Russia is considered, for example, to use the word “war” instead of “special military operation” in relation to the war in Ukraine.
• The article provides for a fine of up to 50,000 rubles, and for repeated violations, a criminal case with a penalty of up to five years in prison is threatened. According to “Mediazona”, by mid-December, more than 5,500 cases were filed on the article about discrediting.