50 thousand fine and 10 days of arrest: a 60-year-old Sochi resident was punished for “discrediting the army” because of the inscriptions on banknotes

In Sochi, a 60-year-old local resident was fined 50 thousand rubles under an article about “discrediting” the Russian army. According to the police, the man wrote anti-war and insulting inscriptions against the Russian military on banknotes, and then deposited them through ATMs.

The Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Krasnodar Territory reported the man’s arrest. The department claims that damaged banknotes regularly appeared in ATMs in Sochi, Tuapse and Gelendzhik. They were marked with texts that the police considered discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

As follows from the message of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, bank employees first drew attention to the banknotes. After this, the information was transferred to law enforcement officers.

The police identified the owner of the bank account through which the banknotes were deposited. He turned out to be a 60-year-old resident of Sochi, a native of the Samara region, who has been living in the city for more than ten years.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the man purchased a self-typesetting stamp, with which he typed texts and applied them to banknotes of various denominations. He then allegedly deposited the money into his account through ATMs. Some pro-government media reports claim that this happened approximately twice a month.

Law enforcement officers also say that the man sent photographs of the banknotes to the administrator of one of the channels in the messenger. Who exactly was the recipient of the messages and what channel we are talking about is not specified.

An administrative protocol was drawn up against the Sochi resident under Part 1 of Art. 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation - “public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.” The court imposed a fine on him in the amount of 50 thousand rubles.

In addition, according to media reports, when brought to court, the man disobeyed police officers. For this he was additionally arrested for 10 days.

After the start of a full-scale war against Ukraine, the article about “discrediting the army” became one of the most frequently used tools of pressure for anti-war statements. In Russian regions, it is used to fine people for posts, comments, reposts, posters, inscriptions, single pickets and symbolic gestures.

Now this list also includes banknotes. In the case of the Sochi resident, the reason for the case was not a public rally or a speech, but the inscriptions on banknotes that passed through ATMs. The Russian system has once again shown that “discredit” can be found almost anywhere - even in money, which the banks themselves then count.