A Kuban court ordered a pensioner to compensate the offended district head for legal costs.

Primorsko-Akhtarsk resident Margarita Belykh will have to pay legal costs until 2030 to the head of the district, who accused her of insulting him after comments he made on social media.

80-year-old Margarita Belykh is a third-degree disabled person and the widow of a veteran of the Chechen war. Maxim Bondarenko, the head of the Primorsko-Akhtarsk district, filed a lawsuit against her after being offended by her online comments.

In his lawsuit for the protection of his honor, dignity, and business reputation, Bondarenko demanded that the pensioner remove comments about him and pay him compensation for moral damages. In November 2024, the Primorsko-Akhtarsky District Court partially upheld the claim, ordering Belykh to delete all comments, publish a retraction, and pay compensation for moral damages.

The court found Bondarenko's comments about an "arrogant official" and the words "he lies like he breathes" to be untrue and defamatory, according to a ruling published on the court's website. The amount of compensation awarded was redacted from the document.

The court ordered Belykh to pay Bondarenko one thousand rubles in moral damages. However, in August 2025, the official demanded reimbursement of approximately 300,000 rubles in legal costs—"for the services of lawyers, a notary, and a linguistic examination." The court again partially upheld the claim, reducing the compensation amount to 85,000 rubles, the Telegram channel Kub Mash reported on November 26. Margarita Belykh lives on a pension of 30,000 rubles, and will therefore pay this amount in installments of 1,500 rubles per month until 2030.