Russian justice on Wednesday announced the detention of Alexandra Skotchilenko, accused of spreading false information about Moscow’s military offensive in Ukraine.
The artist is in custody until May 31 and faces charges of spreading “false information” about the Russian army, a crime punishable by a hefty prison sentence, the Communications Department of the Russian Federation said in a statement. Alexandra Skotchilenko “placed scraps of paper with deliberately false information about the deployment of Russian forces on price tags in a supermarket,” according to the same source.
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“It’s a serious crime,” she continued, saying the artist was “motivated by political hostility toward the Russian Federation.” This arrest and the vocabulary used to describe it illustrate the increasingly hostile climate in Russia against any voice opposing the military offensive that Moscow has been leading in Ukraine since February 24, 2022.
Under a new law, publishing information about the military that authorities deem false can be punishable by up to 10 years in prison, or even 15 years in the case of “serious consequences” for the military. Merely using the words war or invasion to describe the intervention, or referring to civilians killed by Russian forces, is enough to be prosecuted.
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Thousands of protesters arrested
Alexandra Skotchilenko, who describes herself as an “independent artist”, has repeatedly criticized the intervention in Ukraine on social media. She was fined in March 2022 for demonstrating against the offensive.
The communications service of the St. Petersburg courts has reported several cases in recent days in which people have been punished for expressing their opposition. For example, on Tuesday, April 12, a woman was fined 30,000 rubles (330 euros at the current exchange rate) for hanging toys with small banners saying No to war in a shop.
The Kremlin has cracked down in recent weeks, arresting thousands of protesters, blocking independent media and social media, and using words like “cleansing” society or “traitors.”