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Media: Two men in occupied Crimea fined for listening to patriotic Ukrainian song

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Media: Two men in occupied Crimea fined for listening to patriotic Ukrainian song
Pro-Ukrainian protestors wave Ukrainian flags and call for the removal of Russian forces from Russian-occupied Crimea on March 8, 2014, in Simferopol, Ukraine. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Two men in occupied Crimea were fined 40,000 rubles each ($400) for listening to the song "Good evening, we are from Ukraine" in public, according to Russian court reports cited by the Russian independent monitoring group OVD-Info on Oct. 18.

The two men were charged with "publicly discrediting the Russian army" for listening to the song in public.

In March 2022, Russia passed sweeping censorship laws that heavily restricted the ability of Russians (and those in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine) to criticize the war.

The scope of what can be considered a criticism is quite broad, as Russians were arrested for simply holding up a blank sheet of paper, or in this case, playing a Ukrainian song in public.

One year later, in March 2023, Russia strengthened laws against "discrediting" the war and increased their punishments.

The new punishments include a fine of up to 5 million rubles (about $66,450) and a sentence of up to 15 years in prison.

In the shadow of war, Kremlin continues terrorizing Crimean Tatars
They usually come at four or five in the morning. Men in uniform and with guns pull up in large vehicles. The dogs start barking. The family wakes up, knowing exactly what is about to happen. The house is searched. Phones and computers are taken away. And so is the
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Nate Ostiller

News Editor

Nate Ostiller is a former News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. He works on special projects as a researcher and writer for The Red Line Podcast, covering Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and focused primarily on digital misinformation, memory politics, and ethnic conflict. Nate has a Master’s degree in Russian and Eurasian Studies from the University of Glasgow, and spent two years studying abroad at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine. Originally from the USA, he is currently based in Tbilisi, Georgia.

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