Military man from Rostov Region accused of spreading fake news about Russian army

Military man Valery Kotovich is accused of spreading fake news about the Russian Armed Forces, and he was taken into custody, Pavel Chikov, the head of the “Agora” international group, reports in his Telegram channel today.

According to Pavel Chikov, Valery Kotovich and Ilya Karpenko, a military man from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, became the first Russian military men to be charged under the article on discrediting the Russian Armed Forces. “These cases are being considered by garrison military courts,” Pavel Chikov reported.

The “Caucasian Knot” has also reported that amendments to the Russian Criminal Code, which provide for punishment for disseminating false information about the Russian Armed Forces, were made on March 4. Since that time, it has become known about a number of criminal cases instituted under that article against activists, journalists, politicians, and public figures. So, criminal cases under the article about false information about the Russian Armed Forces were instituted against Ingush journalist Isabella Evloeva, Altan Ochirov, an employee of the Elista Mayoralty, and Sergey Reznik, a journalist from Rostov-on-Don.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 1, 2022 at 07:15 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.