The journalist of “Sever.Realii” was fined for an interview with a philosopher

The Pskov City Court fined Svetlana Prokopyev, a journalist of the “Sever.Realii” publication, 35 thousand rubles. Earlier, an administrative protocol was drawn up on her under the article on the discrediting of the Russian army.

The reason for the new persecution of the journalist was an interview with the historian and philosopher Vasily Zharkov. According to the authorities, with his help, Prokopyev “has a psychological effect on readers.”

Sever.Realii’s conversation with Prokopyeva and Zharkov was published in February of this year. In it, the historian discusses the war, nuclear totalitarianism and future scenarios in post-Putin Russia.

Experts who worked with the text of the interview commissioned by the Center for Counteraction to Extremism came to the conclusion that Prokopyev defines the actions of the Russian army as “the conduct of a war initiated by our country.”

• In mid-June 2023, the Ministry of Justice of Russia added Svetlana Prokopyeva to the register of foreign agents.
• In 2019, a case was opened against the journalist regarding the justification of terrorism after the “Echo of Moscow” comment about the terrorist attack in the FSB building in Arkhangelsk. The accusation requested for her 6 years in prison and a ban on journalistic activity for 4 years. The court sentenced Prokopyeva to a fine of 500,000 rubles. She will still appeal the sentence to the ECHR.
• The case of Svetlana Prokopyeva became the most famous of all cases related to the justification of terrorism in Russia. It sparked an international protest by journalistic and human rights organizations, the Human Rights Council under the President of Russia, the Union of Journalists of Russia, the Trade Union of Journalists and Media Workers, the association “Free Speech” and others stood up for the Pskov journalist. More than 400 Russian journalists signed a letter in her support, and a petition in her defense gathered more than 150,000 signatures.​