A Russian court sentenced a former teacher to five and a half years in prison for comments on the Internet about Ukraine’s “gift” to Putler and the “fascism” of the Russian president, Reuters reports.

29-year-old Nikita Tuskanov made these comments last October after the explosion on the Kerch bridge connecting Crimea with Russia, which dealt a severe blow to the Kremlin’s image.

The former teacher described the dismantling of the bridge as a “birthday present to Putler”, a pejorative term that compares the Russian president to Adolf Hitler, as the blast came a day before the Kremlin leader’s 70th birthday celebrations.

After Russia responded with a massive missile attack on Ukrainian cities, Tuskanov called the action “revenge of Putin’s fascism for the Kerch Bridge.” In addition, the Russian president personally initiated a “revenge attack” against Ukraine for the explosion, which Moscow blames on Ukrainian special services.

Oleksandra Kochanova, Tuskanov’s fiancee, told Reuters that his trial lasted “less than 10 minutes” as he was tried before a military court for “discrediting” the armed forces or spreading “false information” about them, a crime soon to be included in Russia’s Criminal Code. after the start of the invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian teacher was fired after a protest in support of Navalny

When asked about her fiancé’s posts, Kochanova replied that she considers it “necessary to write, speak and show that he does not agree.” [cu atacul Rusiei]”.

“He understood the risks, but he decided that it was more important, that these were his principles,” she added.

Tuskanov was detained by FSB officers on December 7 at his home in the city of Syktivkar, in the Urals. Later, his name was included in the Russian database of “terrorists and extremists”.

In 2021, a man was fired from his position as a history teacher in this city after he single-handedly protested against the imprisonment of dissident Oleksii Navalny.

Tuskanov was fined twice after the start of the Russian invasion for his anti-war posts, but one of the fines was overturned.

According to the human rights group OVD-Info, 19,673 people have been arrested in Russia for protests against the war in Ukraine, and criminal cases have been opened against more than 550 of them.

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