Russian construction worker searched for antiwar posts and spelling “putin” with lowercase P

Alexander Grigoryev, a 60-year-old construction worker from Lipetsk in Central Russia, had a criminal case initiated against him on the charges of spreading deliberately false information about the Russian army. As Grigoryev told OVD-Info, the police took an interest in his antiwar posts on the Yandex.Zen platform, which featured, among other things, Putin's name spelled with a lowercase P.

Grigoryev works in Stary Oskol on rotation. He was detained on August 29 in the cafeteria at work and was taken to Lipetsk. Meanwhile, the police searched his apartment and confiscated his computer and phone. After that, the elderly man was interrogated by the Investigative Committee about his Yandex.Zen posts, his attitude to war and the letters Z and V, and his reasons for spelling “putin” in lowercase.

The construction worker admitted to authoring the posts and said he was entitled to an opinion. After the interrogation, he pledged to appear in court and was released until then.

“I am for universal peace. This is what they taught us in my Soviet school. My father went to war. He also wanted us to never see another war. And now Russia is attacking Ukraine. Am I supposed to endorse it?”

Mediazona has studied Grigoryev's blog, which only has 39 followers.

The information about his case was released back on September 7, but without any particulars. Under the law (Art. 207.3 of the Criminal Code, Part 2), Alexander Grigoryev may be facing a prison sentence of up to 15 years.