A military man's wife from Stavropol was fined for discrediting the army.

A court in Stavropol fined local resident Elena Peshl for discrediting the army, as she was trying to find her husband who went missing in a war zone.

The case of Stavropol resident Elena Peshl was heard by the Leninsky District Court of the regional capital. Her case was discovered in the court's file on January 14 by the publication "Verstka*."

The court found a woman's audio message in a Telegram chat dedicated to searching for missing soldiers to be discrediting the army. Pöschl belonged to several such chats and complained that her husband, who went missing in the combat zone, was listed by command as AWOL (absent without leave).

According to the Stavropol resident, after a brief stint with the military police in Kursk, her husband was "mobilized for assault." Contact with him was lost in January 2025, and after "five months of conflicts and complaints," her husband, who was listed as missing, was declared a deserter. "We've been warning you for a long time: if you file complaints, we'll issue an AWOL, and in July, we issued an AWOL," she stated.

The court found that Elena Peshl's audio message contained a "negative assessment of the Russian Armed Forces." Specifically, she disseminated "an allegation that individuals involved in the Russian Armed Forces were committing actions aimed at the destruction of other Russian service members" and extorting money from soldiers.

In court, the pensioner admitted her guilt, stating that she "did not intend to discredit the Armed Forces" and "only wanted to find her husband." She also noted that after publishing the message, she "began receiving regular threats," according to the ruling on the court's website.

Peshl was found guilty, and the court fined her 15,000 rubles.

"Caucasian Knot" also reported that a deaf-mute resident of Kabardino-Balkaria was fined for discrediting the army through a video posted on a messenger. Deaf-mute, a third-degree disabled person since childhood, was questioned in court with the help of a sign language interpreter. He told the court that the video was sent to him and that he did not realize it contained any discrediting of the Russian army, as he was unable to hear the "negative comments" in the video.

* are listed as foreign agents.

** Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) is banned in Russia.