Oktyabrsky District Court of Lipetsk fined a local resident 30,000 rubles under the administrative article on “discrediting” the Russian army. Mediazona drew attention to the ruling.
According to the court decision, the case was based on two comments posted on VKontakte. In March 2026, the man left them in the Incident Lipetsk community under a post saying that the city had been without internet for a second day.
In the first comment, replying to another user, he said the shutdowns happened “whenever the military sees fit,” adding that they had switched the connection on and were turning it off. In the second message, he suggested that the military should be sued and linked the situation to “jammers” at an airfield. The ruling notes that the spelling and punctuation of the comments were preserved as originally written.
The court concluded that the negative assessment of the military contained in the messages, expressed with profane language, fell under the definition of “discrediting” the army.
During the hearing, the author of the comments admitted guilt and said he repented.