A regional Russian politician will appear in court next week to answer charges of defaming the armed forces after releasing a video of him listening to President Vladimir Putin’s address to the nation with spaghetti in his ear, Reuters reports.

The video referred to a Russian proverb that when a noodle gets stuck in someone’s ear, it means that person has been tricked or cheated.

Mykhailo Abdalkin, a deputy from the CPRF in the parliament of the Samara region, announced on social networks on Thursday that the Novokuibyshev city court will consider his case on March 7. His party has already reprimanded him earlier.

“We will fight to prove our non-involvement and innocence,” he added.

Since invading Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has stepped up its crackdown on public dissent, imposing fines and potentially prison terms for discrediting the armed forces by expressing negative views.

Putin’s February 21 speech, which lasted nearly two hours, did not include any major policy announcements other than suspending Russia’s participation in its latest nuclear arms control treaty with the United States.

When Abdalkin posted his video on V Kontakte, Russia’s equivalent of Facebook, soon after, he captioned it saying he had been asked to watch a speech by the deputy speaker of the Samara parliament.

“I fully support him, I fully agree, great performance,” he added. “I haven’t heard anything like this in 23 years. Pleasantly surprised”.