Russian man charged with misdemeanor for online post about dream he had involving Zelensky

A court in the Siberian city of Chita has fined local resident Ivan Losev 30,000 rubles (about $480) for posts he made on social media, including one in which he described a dream he had about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to Sibir.Realii, RFE/RL’s Siberian affiliate. Losev was hit with misdemeanor charges of “discrediting” the Russian army.

In one of the offending posts, Losev recounts a dream in which he was mobilized by the Russian army and sent to a training camp, where the Ukrainian army, led by Zelensky, suddenly burst in. “They rounded everybody up and were getting ready to execute us by firing squad, when Zelensky walks by me and says, ‘Oh, I saw your Instagram stories! Glory to Ukraine!’ And I respond, ‘Glory to the heroes!’ Zelensky happily claps me on the shoulder and says, ‘Let him go, but shoot all the rest,’” Losev wrote.

Losev told Sibir.Realii that he plans to continue making social media posts in support of Ukraine. “I’ve already come to terms with the fact that I might have to flee or that I won’t have time to leave and will be put in jail. It seems to me that this war will soon end — and not in Russia's favor. I’m confident Ukraine will win. As soon as Ukraine wins, everybody who’s currently being put in prison [for ‘disinformation’] will either be released or will be somehow decriminalized,” he said.

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