A man has to pay a sum of money as punishment for something the Russian government considered an offence.
Ivan Losev, a 26-year-old Russian from the city of Chita, had to pay 30,000 rubles, or roughly $477 under an administrative article on "discrediting" the Russian army. The decision was made by a court, and was based on the offence he made when he dreamt of the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Dreaming itself is not a crime, and Russia is perfectly fine with its citizens dreaming of whatever their unconscious selves can.
The offence is only because Losev shared his dream to his followers on Instagram.
Losev, an owner of a sauna in the Siberian city, had no clue that his own government is paying close attention to whatever its citizens say on social media platforms.
According to Ivan Losev on his then-deleted Instagram post:
"And so, we are standing with him, looking at all this, and I ask him: 'May I take a selfie with you for Instagram?' Zelenskyy answers: 'Help yourself.'"
It all began in September 2022, when a junior operative in the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation found Losev's "offensive" post.
The man who worked from the small town of Zabaikalsk was compiling a document when he encountered the said post.
He then began browsing Losev's Instagram account, and scout to seek all of Losev's presence to see what's what.
In the following month, in October, the surveillance materials were transferred to Chita, where officers of the Transbaikal Centre for Countering Extremism saw signs of "discrediting" the Russian army (Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code of Russia) in that story.
Then, on November, the case materials made their way to the table of the head of the regional police department.
Losev was hit with misdemeanor charges, and his case was brought to the Central District Court of Chita.
It was only on 8 December, that Judge Daniil Shestakov found the Chita resident guilty, and had to pay the fine.
It's worth noting though, that Losev himself is a fan of Zelensky.
He said that he started following the Ukrainian leader on Instagram to see how he addressed issues to his citizens every night.
"I even began to understand the Ukrainian language well thanks to him," he added.
It's also worth mentioning that even before the trial, Losev was already summoned to his local police department, where he was threatened with a criminal case in case of repeated "discrediting" of the army, and had been warned that the amount of administrative fine may increase for his disputes with the judge.
In an interview, Losev said that he planned to continue making social media posts in support of Ukraine.
"I’ve already come to terms with the fact that I might have to flee or that I won’t have time to leave and will be put in jail. It seems to me that this war will soon end — and not in Russia's favor. I’m confident Ukraine will win. As soon as Ukraine wins, everybody who’s currently being put in prison [for ‘disinformation’] will either be released or will be somehow decriminalized," he said.
