Russian man jailed for 10 days for writing ‘no to war’ in snow

Russia has sentenced a man to 10 days in jail for tracing the words “No to war” on a snow-covered turnstile outside a skating rink in Moscow, a court document showed.

Moscow made criticism of its offensive in Ukraine illegal shortly after the conflict began in February 2022, and thousands have been detained for simple acts of protest.

According to the court document published November 24, Dmitry Fedorov was caught by police last Thursday in Moscow’s Gorky Park, using his finger to etch the forbidden slogan.

After carrying out the crime, “police officers offered to take him in a vehicle to the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs,” the court document said, but Fedorov refused.

Police officers repeatedly warned he would be breaking the law if he failed to do so, and he was eventually booked.

Fedorov disputed that he resisted arrest in court, but admitted to writing the slogan and was sentenced to 10 days of “administrative detention,” the document said.

The Ostorozhno Novosti news outlet, which first reported on the story, said he was also fined an undisclosed sum.

Since launching its offensive in Ukraine, Moscow has waged an unprecedented crackdown on dissent that rights groups have likened to the mass repression seen under the Soviet Union.

A Russian court earlier this month sentenced artist Alexandra Skochilenko to seven years in prison after she swapped supermarket price tags with slogans criticising the offensive.