"Criminal" conversations: How people dissatisfied with the war are found in Crimea

Anti-war protests in Crimea have appeared since the first days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. For more than a year, Crimean voices of protest against the Russian war have become more massive and diverse: from posts on social networks to drawings on the streets, tattoos and elements of clothing.

Starting in February 2022, hundreds of Crimean residents have been prosecuted in court for a so-called "anti-war" text about "discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation". But the protests against the war do not stop.

Crimeans often find themselves in court for talking about the war in public. Denunciations are often grounds for persecution.

“He expressed dissatisfaction with the war in the hospital”

In June, a local resident of the Kirov district was charged with “discrediting” the Russian military, committed while in the ward of a local hospital.

“On May 28, 2025, the perpetrator, while in the ward of a local district hospital, publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the conduct of a special military operation (as Russia calls its invasion of Ukraine – KR) by the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine,” the press service of the Kirov district court, which is controlled by Moscow, reported.

The report does not specify how exactly the Crimean resident managed to “discredit” the Russian military. The court fined the man 30,000 rubles.

No mention of this was found on the court’s website.

The Crimean resident pleaded not guilty. He did not publicly express his position on the case.

Similar examples of persecution of people for statements made in private conversations and in public places in Crimea have been recorded repeatedly since the beginning of the Russian invasion.

 

In 2023, the City Court of the Russian-controlled city of Kerch fined a local resident 50,000 rubles in May for words spoken in a train carriage.

According to the court decision, the man, while on the Moscow-Simferopol train, made a series of statements at the Ryazan-2 station: “The Russian army is killing civilians in Ukraine,” “The President of the Russian Federation is... [expletive], he started a war with Ukraine,” “I am against the Russian presence in Ukraine and special military operations.”

Based on this, the court concluded that this Crimean resident “took active public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the Russian Armed Forces to protect the interests of Russia and its citizens, and to maintain international peace and security.”

The defendant pleaded guilty at the trial, the court decision states. Whether this is true is unknown - the defendant in this case did not publicly express his position.

"Talked in a shop"

In 2024, Alushta resident Anatoly Golyakovich ended up in a detention center after talking to a saleswoman at a local store.

The man answered the saleswoman's question in Ukrainian at the checkout. To which the saleswoman replied: "We live in Russia".

Golyakovich replied: "We sold ourselves, we sold ourselves. And we will wait (perhaps referring to the return of Crimea to Ukrainian control - KR)".

After reporting, Anatoly Golyakovich was detained by employees of the Center for Combating Extremism of the Crimean headquarters of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs in Alushta. During his detention, he was asked whose Crimea it was. He replied in Ukrainian: "Crimea is mine".

As a result, the Alushta City Court, which is under the control of Moscow, sentenced him to 15 days of administrative detention and a fine of 30,000 rubles.

Earlier, in the Krasnogvardeysky (Kurmansky) district, a local resident was prosecuted for allegedly “making public statements against a special military operation of the Russian Armed Forces” while at the market.

This was stated by witnesses in the case - market workers and a member of the "people's militia", the court decision states. According to them, the person involved in the case "has been praising Ukraine, as well as its leaders, soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, for several months, while at the same time accusing the leadership of Russia and its president of fascism".

The pensioner pleaded not guilty in court and stated that the charges against her were "lies and revenge" of people with whom she is in conflict.

 

She denies that she "discredited" the Russian military, but admitted that "in a private conversation she could have answered that she was against the war".

 

As a result, the Krasnogvardeysky District Court, which is under the control of Moscow, fined the woman 30,000 rubles.

A Thousand Cases of "Suppression of Pro-Ukrainian Feelings"

The "steady increase" of "anti-war" cases in Crimea reflects the growth of civil resistance to the Russian occupation, according to the Ukrainian President's Representative Office in the Crimean Peninsula.

According to the agency, 1,300 materials have now been submitted to Russian courts in Crimea and other local Russian authorities under the "anti-war" Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation ("discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation"). In most cases, decisions have been made on fines and other penalties.

"Even after many years of pressure, repression and systematic persecution, the residents of the temporarily occupied Crimea have not lost their connection with Ukraine. They retain their identity, do not give up their language and culture, and every day, despite the threat of arrests and searches, they choose resistance. This is not just a gesture of courage, it is the path to the liberation of Crimea. Because as long as resistance lasts, hope also lasts," the department said.

The practice of applying Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of Russia on the Crimean Peninsula, according to experts from the Crimean Process project, gives grounds for the assertion that it “remains an instrument not for preventing offenses, but exclusively for suppressing growing pro-Ukrainian sentiments”.

“The consideration of the protocol on “discrediting the Russian army” in the courts of Crimea is associated with a systematic violation of the basic standards of access to fair justice – the principles of publicity, adversarial nature of the parties, the right to defense and impartiality of the trial. Most of the trial cases bear a number of signs of politically motivated persecution for expressing opinions”, claim experts from the “Crimean Process”.

The Russian authorities deny repression in Crimea.