A resident of the Krasnodar region was fined for a comment about Putin

The Krasnoarmeysky District Court fined Vitaly Gusary 30,000 rubles for the comment "Putin is abandoning his own," considering it a discrediting of the Armed Forces of Russia.

According to the investigation and the court, on August 24, 2025, Vitaly Gusary, while at home, posted his comment "Putin is abandoning his own" from his account "Vitaly" in the open group on the Telegram messenger called "Comments Russia Now".

The court believes that Gusary's actions publicly discredited the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the interests of protecting the country and its citizens, reports the Krasnoarmeysky District Court.

"At the court session, Gusary agreed with the protocol on the administrative offense, admitted his guilt, and expressed remorse for his actions, asking for a penalty in the form of a fine," the ruling states.

The judge, evaluating the evidence, found Gusary's guilt established and qualified his actions under part 1 of article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses - public actions aimed at discrediting the Armed Forces. The article provides for an administrative fine for citizens ranging from thirty thousand to fifty thousand rubles.

As a result, the court found him guilty of committing an administrative offense and imposed a penalty in the form of a fine of 30,000 rubles.

"Caucasian Knot" also reported on other cases of residents of southern Russia being prosecuted under the article on "discrediting the army." For example, in June, in comments made by Krasnodar resident Maxim Popov in the Max messenger public group, law enforcement identified nine offenses, including disrespect for authority and discrediting the military. The court fined him 258,000 rubles. Earlier, a court in Sochi fined a local resident under the article on discrediting the armed forces for an inscription made on a banknote with a self-made stamp. Additionally, the man was arrested for ten days.

There is also a known case where a court dismissed a case of discrediting the army, limiting itself to a verbal remark: such a decision was made by the court of the Kanevsky district of Kuban in the case of local resident Alexander Maltsev, who was prosecuted for "public obscene remarks against a participant in the special military operation, as well as against the military operation itself."

Georgievsk resident Ilya Gushchin was fined 50,000 rubles in April for a pro-Ukrainian slogan uttered near a church. In court, the man stated that he "was joking" and "meant nothing bad." Additionally, in early April, it became known that the court placed in pre-trial detention a 30-year-old resident of the Stavropol region, accused under a criminal article of spreading false information about the Russian armed forces due to comments in the messenger.

At the end of 2025, a court in Cherkessk sentenced lawyer and activist Ramazan Mkhze in absentia to eight years in a penal colony, finding him guilty of spreading false information about the Russian military on grounds of political hatred.