(NewsInsights.org) – It’s no secret that Russia doesn’t tolerate dissent from its own citizens, particularly since it started an all-out conflict with Ukraine when it invaded the country in 2022. Anyone who posts anti-Russian sentiment is typically arrested and jailed. When a man allegedly posted pictures of the Saint George’s ribbon, a Russian military pride symbol, on the social media site Odnoklassniki, he became a target. He has now been convicted and jailed.
Yuri Malev, a dual US-Russian citizen, was arrested back in December after he traveled to the country from Estonia. He wasn’t in the country for two weeks before police took him into custody. Malev was accused of “rehabilitating Nazism” for posts he made on social media depicting the Saint George’s ribbon on a corpse, saying that’s “how to wear [it] properly.” Court documents said the suspect was “humiliating the honor and dignity of World War II veterans.”
On Wednesday, June 5, nearly six months after his arrest, a Russian court sentenced Malev, who reportedly “admitted his guilt,” to 3.5 years in a minimum-security penal colony. The US State Department said back in December it was “aware of reports of the detention of a US Citizen in Russia,” though it did not directly name Malev.
The “rehabilitating Nazism” charge is a way of arresting those who have dissenting views. It comes from Russia’s accusations that Ukraine is full of “neo-Nazis,” and any support of the neighboring country is support for that faction. In February, authorities arrested a 23-year-old woman for making a video mocking a WWII monument in Volgograd and posting it online.
Since Russia’s invasion of its neighbor — and its penchant for targeting Americans — the US State Department has warned against travel to the country. Those who do put themselves at risk of detainment. Russia has seemingly been arresting Americans to use as bargaining chips, and a few, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former US Marine Paul Whelan, and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, still remain in detention.
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