Yashchenko became the third fined Volgograd resident for posts from "Watch"*.

Fines for the post of the channel "Watch in Volgograd"*, in addition to the former correspondent of "Caucasian Knot" Vyacheslav Yashchenko, were imposed on two residents of Volgograd. One of the fined individuals, like Yashchenko, denies any connection to this project.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", the court in Volgograd today fined former correspondent of "Caucasian Knot" Vyacheslav Yashchenko for publications from the channel "Watch in Volgograd"*, although Yashchenko insists that he has no relation to this project.

The session of the Central District Court of Volgograd regarding Vyacheslav Yashchenko was postponed to September 22 after his lawyer questioned the grounds for classifying the journalist as a participant in the project "Watch in Volgograd"*, Yashchenko told a correspondent of "Caucasian Knot".

"My lawyer initially stated that she considers it unreasonable to classify me as a participant in "Watch"*. She asked: on what grounds is this asserted? Yashchenko was a journalist; he covered Kochegin's* activities and nothing more. Why was he held accountable? <...> Representatives of Roskomnadzor replied that this could be clarified by a representative of the Ministry of Justice, who would supposedly show why Yashchenko is a participant in the project. Therefore, it was decided to summon Yuri Lokhov from the Ministry of Justice, and the session was postponed," he said.

The journalist noted that he "knew Kochegin* very superficially" and was never a participant in "Watch"* or any of its other projects. "I just did a couple of reports about him for "Caucasian Knot"; I have no other connection with this person. But they tied me to Kochegin's* criminal case as a witness, conducted a search, and seized all my office equipment. Now the Ministry of Justice has remembered me and somehow tied me again to Kochegin's* project, - and now I, as an affiliated person, bear responsibility for all the publications that appear there. They fundamentally do not label that they are foreign agents. I have no relation to what they publish there," Yashchenko emphasized.

He considers his administrative prosecution to be politically motivated and aimed at forcing him to leave Volgograd. Earlier, he had already been forced to leave the city - after the searches related to Kochegin's* case, the journalist faced threats and spam attacks.

The reason for the administrative case was a publication by "Watch"* about the flight of American astronauts around the Moon, Yashchenko reported. According to him, the material was dedicated to space topics and contained references to materials from the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Due to this same publication, two women had previously been held administratively accountable, the journalist reported. According to Yashchenko, he considers one of them a participant in the project, while the second, like himself, denies any involvement with "Watch"*. Both were fined 30,000 rubles.

"My lawyer also pointed this out to the judge: can several people be judged for the same case? According to the lawyer, they cannot, and the judge listened to this opinion," Yashchenko indicated.

Maria Khudoyarova, who was fined 30,000 rubles, admits that she is an employee of "Watch"*.

"I will try to appeal, although formally the deadlines have already passed. Of course, I do not consider "Watch"* to be any foreign agent; we have always written about what concerns our editorial team and readers. We simply called things by their names in the posts, while the Ministry of Justice believes that "proper" Russians cannot speak like that," Khudoyarova told "Caucasian Knot".

In her opinion, by imposing such fines, the authorities pursue two goals. "They fine those who have left not only for the money itself but to show: you cannot just leave the Russian state by buying a ticket to another country. A person continues to face legal problems and consequences in case of return. This is also a signal to those who remain in Russia: distance does not guarantee that the authorities will stop pursuing "incorrect" words," Khudoyarova believes.

* included in the foreign agents registry.

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