Journalist Ruslan Totrov suspected of discrediting army

Law enforcers have treated the comments of Ruslan Totrov, a journalist from the North-Ossetian "Osnova" outlet, about the partial mobilization as discrediting Russian militaries. He disagrees with the police's claims.

Ruslan told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the case was brought against him under the article "Public actions aimed at discrediting the Russia Armed Forces".

According to Totrov, law enforcers' claims were caused by two publications. One is a comment for The New York Times, which was posted in the Totrov's Instagram* page. The second one is Totrov's comment for the "Echo of the Caucasus"**, duplicated in his Telegram channel. Both comments touch upon the partial mobilization in Northern Caucasus.

Totrov believes that by means of the law on discrediting the army, authorities are trying to "shut up the journalists who deviate from the authorities' course."

However, he has noted that the accusations of discrediting would not affect his civic and journalistic position. In his opinion, such measures will not silence the vast majority of people who write about arbitrariness.

After the liability for discrediting the armed forces was introduced on March 4, 2022, residents of Russian regions, including North Ossetia, began to be prosecuted under this article. Thus, in September, the court imposed a fine on a woman from the republic under this article for her comment posted in social networks.