The article on fake news about the army was first applied for a publication about the results of the "Five-Day War."

Dozhd journalist Valeria Kichigina has been accused of spreading fake news about the army. One of the publications she is accused of is related to events in Bucha, while the second concerns the presence of Russian troops in South Ossetia after the 2008 Five-Day War. This is the first instance of the fake news article being used for statements unrelated to the South Ossetian Military District, and it demonstrates the expansion of the article's scope to other conflicts involving Russian troops. As reported by the Caucasian Knot, Article 207.3 of the Russian Criminal Code was introduced on March 4, 2022, after the start of the Russian operation in Ukraine. This article of the Russian Criminal Code contradicts the Constitution of Russia, as well as fundamental principles of law, stated the Memorial Human Rights Center**. "The wording of the article does not allow us to determine in advance which statements are legitimate and which are prohibited. A citizen cannot know in advance which statements or information may be considered false in a given context," the human rights activists emphasized.

Dozhd* journalist Valeria Kichigina has been tried in a military "fakes" case for a post about the war in Georgia in 2008. This is the first time the article has been used for anything other than publications about a military operation in Ukraine.

The trial of Valeria Kichigina has begun in Moscow's Tagansky Court, Mediazona reported. As stated in the indictment, on April 6, 2022, Kichigina posted a link to an article about Bucha on her Telegram channel. She was charged with the second count for an Instagram story*** on the 15th anniversary of the Five-Day War.

Both posts are currently unavailable. According to the released case materials, the investigator established the ownership of Kichigina's accounts using FSB materials.

The article on military "fakes" was introduced into the criminal code in March 2022, and since then it has been used en masse for prosecutions for posts about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Kichigina case is the first known instance in which investigators deemed a publication about the war with Georgia "fake," the publication states.

Kichigina currently lives abroad.  In January 2020, her home in Moscow, where her parents live, was searched, and she was placed on the wanted list. According to her, she was offered the opportunity to return to Russia and drop the case if she "handed over the leadership of Dozhd." Kichigina is certain she is being persecuted for her journalistic activities, as many questions during the search and interrogations of her relatives concerned her work.

Kichigina believes the case is trumped up. "These people really wanted to gather something on me; they searched everything they could find. These weren't even posts with the word 'war' or any opinion of mine, but literally reposts and stories with facts from Wikipedia," she wrote on her Instagram page***.

"For the first time, as far as we know, prosecution was initiated not for statements about the "military operation in Ukraine," but for my assessment of events related to the 2008 Russian-Georgian conflict. "The investigation has effectively expanded the article's scope to other armed conflicts involving Russia, including past ones," OVD-Info** quotes lawyer Valeria Vetoshkina as saying.

Any critical statement about the actions of the Russian military that does not align with the official narrative could potentially be classified under Article 207.3.

The human rights project notes that the wording of the article on military fakes is extremely vague and "contains no restrictions on geography, time, or the nature of military operations." "Criminal liability is imposed for the public dissemination of information about the use of the Russian Armed Forces that law enforcement agencies consider to be knowingly false, that is, inconsistent with the official position of the state. Any critical statement about the actions of the Russian military that does not align with the official narrative could potentially be classified under Article 207.3," the publication states.

Human rights activists have suggested that statements about the Chechen campaigns and the war in Syria could also potentially be classified under this article. However, critical statements about the actions of the Soviet army during the Great Patriotic War do not fall under the article on military fakes, since it deals specifically with the use of the Russian armed forces, but the article on the rehabilitation of Nazism may apply here.

* The Dozhd TV channel has been designated an undesirable organization and added to the register of foreign agents.

** has been added to the register of foreign agents.

*** The activities of Meta (which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) are banned in Russia.