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

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

The Kyiv IndependentAnastasiia Lapatina