19-year-old anti-war activist fined for ‘discrediting’ Russian army

Dmitry Kuzmin, a 19-year-old anti-war activist, has been fined 30,000 rubles (€300) for “discrediting the Russian army” in social media posts.

Kuzmin, who has been detained on multiple occasions and expelled from two St. Petersburg universities for his weekly solo protests, received notice of the fine as he exited a special detention centre where he had been serving a six-day sentence.

The basis for the fine, according to the joint press service of the courts of St. Petersburg, was four posts published between February 2022 and July 2023 by “Dmitry Kuzmin” on a VK page. These posts included anti-war messages and “reposts of content from foreign agent media outlets”.

Kuzmin’s attorney Olesya Vasilchenko claims that he was not the author of the posts. The name Dmitry Kuzmin is a common one in Russia, and in St. Petersburg alone, there are dozens of Dmitry Kuzmins on VK, Vasilchenko said.

Kuzmin’s defence intends to appeal the decision.