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Aug 14, 2023

Russian woman fined over bag saying Putin’s death ‘better’ than sex

Submit Δ Thanks for contacting us. We've received your submission. A Russian woman claims she was interrogated and fined just for sharing a photo of a tote bag that said Vladimir Putin’s death would

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A Russian woman claims she was interrogated and fined just for sharing a photo of a tote bag that said Vladimir Putin’s death would be “better” than sex.

Aleksandra, who declined to give her surname, was ordered to pay 30,000 rubles, or about $317, for “discrediting” the Russian military under an article of the Code of Administrative Offenses, according to an interview with independent local news outlet Mediazone.

She said the charges stemmed in part from a series of screenshots of her personal Instagram, which included a photo of a cotton bag emblazoned with blue text reading in English, “Sex is cool, but Putin’s death better.”

The images also featured a bag inscribed with the words “No to war” and similar graffiti protesting Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Plainclothes officers came to her home in Krasnodar on June 28 and took her to the department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where they questioned her about LGBTQ+ “propaganda” on her tattoos, she said.

She says she was forced to show officers her tattoos, including one on her upper arm of a dog wearing a rainbow scarf alongside words that translate as “The dog is gay.”

“They told me to raise the sleeves of my T-shirt, examined all my tattoos, asked me to translate what the inscriptions in English mean, and also took photos of my face and tattoos,” she said of the harrowing interrogation.

The officers prevented Aleksandra from contacting a lawyer and taunted her by asking how her mother, a teacher, “‘had such an ill-mannered daughter,’” according to the human rights group Sphere.

Finally, in late July, the Magistrate’s Court fined her over $2,000 for “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” in addition to the charge for “discrediting,” Mediazone said.

Even in court, the police had trouble explaining exactly why Aleksandra’s tattoos were offensive.

“He said some incoherent things: ‘Propaganda, propaganda,’” Aleksandra, who also goes by Sasha, lamented.

“Explain where the violation is here.” He’s like, ‘Well, I thought it was a violation.’”

“I am sad that now, even on my small page in social networks, it has become objectionable and unsafe to express my opinion,” she told SOTA.

“I cannot know exactly how they found me and why they were interested, but I think that someone wrote a denunciation, seeing that the page was open.”

Aleksandra declined further comment when reached by The Post on Thursday, only asking for her face not to be shown through ongoing safety fears.