A resident of the Tver region was fined for saying “Glory to Ukraine” after a conflict with women near a rural cafe; he denies the accusations

The Maksatikhinsky Interdistrict Court of the Tver Region fined a local resident 30 thousand rubles under a protocol on “discrediting” the Russian army. As follows from the text of the resolution , to which Mediazona drew attention, the reason for drawing up the protocol was the utterance of the words “Glory to Ukraine.” The court identified them as the slogan of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and the organization of Ukrainian nationalists, banned in Russia.

The man did not admit guilt in court - according to him, he did not utter this phrase. From his testimony it follows that at the beginning of May 2026 he was drinking in the Normal Place cafe in the village of Maksatikha. There, he said, unknown women said “something obscene” to him. After the cafe closed, he went outside, saw them on a bench and approached. They, according to him, began to insult him, and he insulted them in return. One of the women then called the police.

The women who acted as witnesses claim that they and the man had no conflict in the cafe. After it closed, as one of them said, an unfamiliar man approached them, whom she had not seen in the establishment before. The man, according to her, began to demand alcoholic drinks - but she replied that she would not meet him and drink. A conflict ensued, during which the defendant, according to the witness, hit her on the cheek, thereby knocking her to the ground. After that, she claims, the man uttered “expressions against Russia”: “Anyway, Ukraine will soon win” and “Glory to Ukraine.”

The woman claims she responded by asking why he was saying “those words,” at which point the man “ripped her glasses off her face and threw them aside” and “repeatedly punched” her cheek, the ruling states. One of the witnesses then called the police. While the law enforcement officers were waiting, the man continued to insult the women, one of them claims, throwing cigarette butts and threatening that “we are all finished, Russia is all finished.”

The resolution states that “discrediting” the army should be understood as including deprivation of trust and “undermining authority and image.” Therefore, the court considered the man’s words about the victory of Ukraine to be an administrative offense.