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NeMoscow is launching a series of publications devoted to the operation of repressive law in Russia. We will analyze judicial statistics on administrative and criminal cases—from military fakes and discrediting the army to cases of extremism, rehabilitation of Nazism, participation in undesirable organizations, and other offenses that are increasingly used to pressure and intimidate Russians. The goal is to demonstrate how these provisions are applied in practice, who is punished and for what, and what trends lie behind the sentences. 

For the analysis we used forensic parser From the "If to Be Precise" project, which allows you to download the entire array of cases heard in Russian courts. 

The first article is about cases of discrediting the Russian army.

Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to protect the interests of the Russian Federation and its citizens, maintain international peace and security, exercise the powers of state bodies of the Russian Federation, or assist volunteer formations, organizations, or individuals in fulfilling tasks assigned to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation or the troops of the National Guard of the Russian Federation. Punishment: from a fine of 100 rubles to imprisonment for up to seven years. 

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12019 administrative and 227 Russian courts have heard criminal cases for discrediting the army during the war. These figures are based on data as of December 1, 2025, according to NeMoskva, which analyzed court case files. The number of administrative cases decreased annually over the period, while the number of criminal cases increased.   

Arkhangelsk Oblast leads the way in terms of the number of criminal cases, with 14 cases. Sverdlovsk Oblast is second with 12 cases. Krasnodar Krai, Tatarstan, and annexed Crimea (9 cases each). Crimea also leads by a significant margin in the number of administrative cases (1509 on the peninsula plus 129 cases in the Crimean city of Sevastopol, which is considered a separate region). Moscow and St. Petersburg are second and third (1244 and 611 cases, respectively). In fourth place, Sverdlovsk Oblast, courts heard 370 cases. Krasnodar Krai is fifth with 276 cases.

Not all verdicts are published in the case file. A NeMoskva journalist was able to find texts for only 101 criminal cases. Most are fined, and approximately a quarter of those convicted are sent to penal colonies. 

• In 44 cases, the defendants were fined—mostly from 100 to 250 thousand rubles, often with the option to pay in installments over 25 months;
• In 23 cases, the punishment was in the form of actual imprisonment, mostly also from one to three years; the court sentenced five defendants to serve their sentences in a penal colony, two in a strict regime colony, and the rest in a general regime colony; 
• In 19 cases, the defendants received suspended sentences, mostly from one to three years;
• In 6 cases, the courts ordered the release of the accused from punishment due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, 
• In 4 cases, the cases were redirected to other courts according to their jurisdiction, and in 2 cases, they were returned to the prosecutor,
• In 3 cases, information about the sentences was removed from public access. 

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The largest fine known — 800 thousand rubles. Court appointed of his To Ivan Churinov, to a neurologist from Rostov Novocherkassk. He was found guilty of damaging banners depicting participants in the war in Ukraine. The court assessed the damages from the doctor's actions at 9900 rubles. 

^{Ivan Churinov and the damaged banner. Sources: "About Doctors" website, Rostov Main}

According to investigators, Churinov and his acquaintance, Anton Bykov, drove around Novocherkassk in September 2022, throwing packages of paint at banners depicting military personnel. According to the verdict, Churinov threw two packages and, on several occasions, stood by Bykov as backup. At the trial, the doctor testified that Bykov had persuaded him to damage the banners. He also объявил, that he was ready to go to a war zone as a military medic to "atone for his guilt." Whether he went to war is unknown, but Online There have been no patient reviews about ProDoctors since 2022. 

Anton Bykov, by According to "OVD-Info" managed to emigrate to Georgia. 

Another big fine — 450 thousand rubles — got Alexander Kamenyuk, a social activist from Petropavlovsk-KamchatskyAfter two administrative fines for discrediting the army (for which Kamenyuk was sentenced to fines of 40 and 50 rubles), a criminal case was opened against him. 

^{Alexander Kamenyuk and the post for which he received his second fine. Source: Memorial PZK, Telegram channel "Yuri Mukhin. Briefly"} 

The first reason was a repost on a Telegram channel of quotes from statements by diplomat Boris Bondarev, who resigned from his post as adviser to the Russian mission to the UN after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. said, that "all of Russia's hopes and prospects for the future are crossed out by the letter Z." The second reason is a repost from the Telegram channel of Yuri Mukhin (in 2017, he was given a four-year suspended sentence for attempting to hold a referendum "For Responsible Government"), which urged Mobilized personnel are required to write statements to military registration and enlistment offices refusing to participate in the crime provided for in Article 353 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (unleashing an aggressive war). 

Both incidents were combined into one case. Kamenyuk was detained: initially, he was given a restraining order prohibiting certain activities. Later, sent into custody—allegedly for missing a meeting with an investigator. In January 2023, the Kamchatka Regional Court placed Kamenyuk was placed under house arrest. In October 2023, Alexander saidthat the police tortured him: they beat him with a stun gun and trampled him with their feet. 

For both offenses, the court sentenced him to a fine of 450 rubles. However, given that he had been in pretrial detention and then under house arrest, the judge reduced his sentence to 100 rubles. 

The harshest sentence of those that were made publicly available, got Vladislav Alexandrov, Ivan Zyryanov и Sergey Piskarev — participants in a fight with former Wagner PMC mercenary Mikhail Taskin. The court deemed the attack on the soldier to be a discrediting of the army. Zyryanov received five years in prison, Piskarev received five years and six months, and Aleksandrov received three years and six months. Their acquaintance Anastasia Chertkova, The woman, who was named in court as the coordinator of the attack and an accomplice of the accused, received a two-year prison sentence. 

^{The arrest of Ivan Zyryanov. Sergei Piskarev in court. The governor of Zabaykalsky Krai meets with the beaten Taskin. Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs press service. Chita.ru, the Telegram channel of the Transbaikal governor.} 

The incident took place in August 2023 in one of the cafes in Transbaikal Territory, where Taskin was vacationing with his friend Sergei Yolgin. Both had fought in the war with Ukraine, and both had become disabled—each had lost a leg. 

On approval Taskin's sister, the attackers behaved aggressively, calling her brother and his friend murderers and insulting them. After the former soldiers left the café, they "caught up with them in a car and began beating them." The verdict states that the attackers jumped on Taskin's car, slashed the tires with scissors, rammed it, threw stones at it, and tore off his military medals.

At the same time, Regnum, citing eyewitnesses, писалIt was Taskin himself who provoked the conflict: allegedly, that day at the cafe, he threw a crutch at the waitresses, "ordered them to bring it back to him, and then threw it again." Another eyewitness said Taskin was wearing medals, which, in her opinion, he put on deliberately—"to show off in front of everyone." 

The publication also discovered that in 2019, Mikhail Taskin attempted to kill three people in a local café and was sentenced to nine years in prison. He served three years, then was recruited by the Wagner PMC. He only spent two months in the war: after being wounded and having his leg amputated, he was discharged, according to his brother. 

Ivan Zyryanov is in pretrial detention, as Reported According to Mediazona, his health deteriorated sharply: his legs and right arm became paralyzed, leaving him unable to move independently. According to his lawyer, bailiffs carried him into the courthouse slung over their shoulders. 

One of the oldest prisoners, convicted of "discrediting" the Russian army was the 70-year-old leader Kamchatka branches of the Yabloko party Vladimir Efimov. In 2022, it will be seven times fined under the administrative article on "discrediting" (Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation) and three times for displaying Nazi symbols (Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation). In May 2022, the first criminal case was opened against Efimov: he became the first Russian politician to be prosecuted under Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. In this case, he appointed A fine of 200 rubles was later reduced to a six-month suspended sentence. The politician was also banned from publishing online for two years. 

In November 2023 against Efimov excited A second criminal case. Efimov was accused of discrediting the Russian army and repeatedly displaying Nazi symbols for a post about Z-singer Yaroslav Dronov (Shaman). In it, the politician compared the Russian artist's image from the video "We" (in which Dronov is depicted in a black leather jacket with a Russian flag armband) to the Nazi boy from Bob Fosse's film "Cabaret." Efimov posted two photographs and fragment film that featured the Nazi salute, swastika and the coat of arms of the Third Reich.

^{Vladimir Efimov and the image of Shaman, which he compared to the young Nazi from the film "Cabaret." Source: Yabloko Party, social media} 

"I kept wondering, 'Who does he remind me of?' After all, this image is already secondary. And then, after rewatching Bob Fosa's brilliant anti-fascist film 'Cabaret,' I cried out, 'There it is!' A blue-eyed, blond, Aryan-looking Hitler Youth member in a park performing 'The Future Belongs to Us!' SHAMAN's 'Let's Rise!' and this Hitler Youth 'Future...' Damn it, what are these bastards doing to the country!" quoted ASTRA post by Efimov (now deleted)

In April 2025, the local court sentenced He was sentenced to 1 year and 9 months in a penal colony for this case. However, shortly before that, in January 2025, Vladimir Efimov carried out This is his third criminal conviction—for violating the ban on posting online after his first conviction. He was sentenced to two years in prison in the third case. The judge imposed a combined sentence of two years in prison for the post about "Shaman." The defense's arguments that Vladimir Efimov suffers from chronic illnesses and has a 91-year-old mother to support were ignored.  

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This article on cases involving discrediting the army is part of our research. In the next publication in the "Fear Statistics" series, we'll analyze data on military fakes.

See also: Journalism under investigationPersecution of journalists and bloggers in Russia since the outbreak of the war with Ukraine. Updated "NeMoskva" database