Russian activist who posted names of Ukrainian cities on storefront sentenced to 1.5 years in prison
A court in Russia’s Leningrad region has sentenced activist Dmitry Skurikhin to 1.5 years in prison for repeatedly “discrediting” the Russian army, the Telegram channel Sota reported on Thursday. The case was launched in response to a sign he made that read “Forgive us, Ukraine.”
Skurikhin used his closing statement in court to condemn Russia’s war against Ukraine:
I support the idea of defending the interests of the Russian Federation, but what does this madness in Ukraine have to do with defending our interests? Were there bombs falling on our cities before the start of the special military operation? Was NATO, which our authorities say is aggressive, located just 100 kilometers from our northern capital? Were hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens leaving the country rather than working for the good of the Motherland?
If the goal of the special military operation was to cause people to die, then sorry, but that’s simply betrayal on the part of those who orchestrated it. If that wasn’t the goal, then the implementation of this special military operation is the truest form of discreditation of the idea of protecting the interests of our homeland and our fellow citizens.
Since 2014, Skurikhin has posted approximately 200 political messages on the front of his store in the village of Russko-Vysotskoe. After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he began writing anti-war slogans and the names of Ukrainian cities that suffered at the hands of the Russian army on the building.
‘Special military operation’
The Kremlin’s official euphemism for the full-scale war against Ukraine