December 26, 2022

Mark My Words


Mark My Words
Putin at a press conference on December 21, 2022. Telegram, Kommersant.

A St. Petersburg legislator has asked the Public Prosecution Service of the Russian Federation to criminally charge Russian President Vladimir Putin for violating his own law, by referring to the invasion of Ukraine as a "war."

Putin made the statement in a December 21 Kremlin press conference, saying "Our goal is to end this war." And that is when legislator Nikita Yuferev announced via Twitter his legal action against the president.

When Putin invaded Ukraine on February 24, he called it "a special military operation." Shortly after that, the government criminalized use of the word "voyna" (war) as "spreading fake news" and "discrediting the army," with potential punishment of up to 15 years in jail. A Muscovite municipal legislator was jailed for this "crime" in July.

In his tweet, Yuferev pointed out the president's hypocrisy: "Several thousand people have been convicted for these words about the war." In September, Yuferev was one of a group of St. Petersburg legislators who had a protocol drawn up against them for defaming the army.

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