72 people have been charged with "desecrating military symbols" in Russia.

OVD-Info shared this information with NeMoskva. This concerns cases involving lighting cigarettes, throwing pine cones, attempting to extinguish them, or other actions near the Eternal Flame, climbing on war memorials, dancing near them, and taking photographs that Russian authorities deem "offensive" or "indecent." 

Most often, criminal cases are brought under Article 354.1 of the Russian Criminal Code—"Rehabilitation of Nazism"—and sometimes charges of vandalism or discrediting the army are added. Before the war, only seven such cases were known, but their number increases every year. In 2022, nine people were prosecuted under criminal charges, 13 in 2023, and 36 in 2024. 

Sentences have been issued for 30 defendants. Fourteen received prison sentences, up to a maximum of three years in a maximum-security penal colony, and two were sent to compulsory treatment. Only three similar cases resulted in fines, ranging from 300,000 to 2 million rubles.

Among regions where such prosecutions are known, Stavropol Krai leads the way, with 18 such criminal cases. This region also handed down the only sentence for a minor—a year in a juvenile correctional facility. 

The day before, a nine-year-old boy splashed Paint was splashed on a memorial to World War II veterans in Yakutia—the documents are planned to be submitted to the Investigative Committee. OVD-Info noted that he will not face criminal charges—he is under 16—but the juvenile affairs commission can impose various preventive measures, including detention in a temporary detention center for juvenile offenders for up to 30 days.