21:35, 21 August 2026

The court agreed with the charges in the Slepakov* case.

Humorist and musician from Pyatigorsk, Semyon Slepakov*, has been sentenced in absentia by a court in Moscow to 400 hours of community service for evading the duties of a foreign agent.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", at the end of May, the Moscow City Court recognized the in absentia arrest of singer and humorist Slepakov* as lawful in the case of violating the duties of a foreign agent, leaving his complaint unsatisfied. In July, at the request of the investigation, the Moscow City Court in absentia arrested Slepakov*, who was also declared wanted. Today, the prosecution requested 400 hours of community service for the comedian.

A native of the Stavropol Krai, humorist and singer Semyon Slepakov* was included in the list of foreign agents in April 2023. In September 2024, he received his first fine for violating the foreign agent law due to publications in his Telegram channel without labeling. The court in Moscow fined the artist 30,000 rubles. In April 2025, he was fined again 45,000 rubles, and in September he was fined once more for not paying the fine. The artist tried to appeal the fine, but the appellate court refused to consider the lawyer's complaint due to errors in the documents.

The magistrate of judicial district No. 214 in the Lomonosov district of Moscow sentenced Semyon Slepakov* in absentia to 400 hours of community service, as requested by the prosecutor, reported “Mediazona”*.

The prosecution insists that Slepakov* published posts on his Instagram* without labeling as a foreign agent, "expressing hostility towards the activities of the President of Russia and the armed forces." The comedian's lawyer submitted a statement to the court: in it, Slepakov* noted that he left Russia in 2022 and has not posted any materials on its territory or under its jurisdiction since then.

The head of the Roskomnadzor department, who appeared in court, could not answer the lawyer's question about what harm was caused by Slepakov's* posts without the foreign agent label. The official only stated that "even if a foreign agent writes 'Hello!', it must be labeled."

In June 2018, Semyon Slepakov* published a satirical song about the failure of the head of Chechnya as the coach of the Russian national football team. According to the author, even the harsh methods practiced in Chechnya could not help the team at the World Cup. The head of the Ministry of Press of Chechnya, Dzhambulat Umarov, demanded an apology from the humorist, and Kadyrov himself predicted the emergence of another song. After that, Slepakov* made symbolic apologies: the humorist and leader of the band "Leningrad" Sergey Shnurov recorded a song about how Slepakov* "sang a song about Ramzan," also apologizing for not believing in the success of the national team.

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* included in the Russian register of foreign agents.

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

Translated automatically via OpenAI from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/425976