Over 260 people are currently serving jail terms in Russia for crimes related to taking an anti-war stance
In a bizarre incident, a Russian university student was sentenced to 10 days in jail by a Moscow court, for naming his Wi-Fi router with a pro-Ukrainian slogan, Russian media reported.
Oleg Tarasov, a student at the Moscow State University, had renamed his WIFI router to “Slava Ukraini,” which means “Glory to Ukraine” – a tribute which has become popular amid Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to independent Russian Telegram news channel Ostorozhno Novosti.
State-run RIA reported that Tarasov has been found guilty of propaganda and the “public display of Nazi symbols” by the Nikulinsky District Court of Moscow on Thursday, and authorities confiscated his router.
More than 260 people are currently serving jail terms in the country for crimes related to taking an anti-war stance, according to Russian human rights group OVD-Info, which has recorded more than 20,000 detentions.
After the death of Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny at a Russian penal colony north of the Arctic Circle in mid-February the climate of repression has worsened in Russia.
Russian state media largely ignored his death, while hundreds of people were reportedly detained for turning out at makeshift memorials.
Amid a heavy police presence, thousands of mourners – some who shouted “Putin is a killer” or “no to war” – defied threats of arrest and gathered for Navalny’s funeral in Moscow earlier this month. At least 103 people were detained across 20 Russian cities, OVD-Info reported.
Next week, a tightly-controlled election, in which the country’s only anti-war candidate has been barred from standing, will likely see Putin extend his rule into the 2030s.
