Russia opens criminal case against woman near St. Petersburg over Easter bread photo

Russia’s Investigative Committee for the Leningrad Region has opened a criminal case against a woman from the Murino district outside St. Petersburg over a photo she posted featuring an Easter bread loaf, the committee announced.

The committee stated that the woman had published in a messaging app a photograph containing an image that “offends the religious feelings of believers.” It did not specify what the image showed.

The Telegram news channel Ostorozhno Novosti reported that the photo showed a dildo alongside the Easter bread. Z-blogger Vladislav Pozdnyakov, who has a history of online harassment, reposted the image and identified the woman as Tatyana, 20 years old.

Tatyana subsequently deleted the post and wrote in her channel that she “repents and sincerely apologizes for her joke,” Ostorozhno Novosti reported. She was quoted as saying: “I am baptized myself and did not put a drop of negativity into the post I published — I did not mean to offend anyone.” She then closed her channel.

The Investigative Committee stated that it had identified the suspect and was taking steps to detain her, after which she would be formally charged and a pretrial measure imposed. The charge carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison.

A Moscow bar employee named Ksenia was charged with violating freedom of conscience and religion the day before, after she set up a hookah on an Easter bread loaf at a customer’s request — a second criminal case in as many days involving Easter bread and offending religious believers. Vladislav Pozdnyakov drew attention to her social media post as well, after which a criminal case was opened. That same evening, police published a video of Ksenia apologizing and saying she deeply regretted what she did and that she had posted the video on Instagram.