A 19-year-old girl from the Russian region of Arkhangelsk has been arrested and faces years in prison for social media remarks that, according to authorities, undermine the Russian army and condone terrorism.
Olesya Krivtsova, who has an anti-Putin tattoo, has been put on the list of terrorists and radicals, alongside ISIS, al Qaeda, and the Taliban, for sharing an Instagram story about the October explosion on the Crimean bridge that also criticized Russia for invading Ukraine. She is also facing criminal accusations for disparaging the Russian military by reportedly reposting a critique of the continuing conflict in a student discussion on the Russian social network VK.
Natalya Krivtsova, the teen’s mother, told the source that on December 26, police entered the flat where her daughter lived with her husband, Ilya. They allegedly forced them both to lie face down on the floor and threatened them with a sledgehammer, which the cops claimed was a “welcome” from the Wagner Group, directed by Yevgeny Prigozhin. She added that the 19-year-old was shown a video of a prisoner being executed with a sledgehammer by the authorities.
Notably, the Wagner Group recruits convicted criminals vigorously for the army. Former prisoner Yevgeny Nuzhin was allegedly slain with a sledgehammer as he attempted to flee his station.
Olesya was terrified after watching a video of a prisoner being killed with a sledgehammer.
Ms. Olesya is a student at the Northern (Arctic) Federal University in the city of Arkhangelsk in Russia’s far northwest. According to the news source, she is currently under house arrest at the apartment of her mother in Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk region, and is prohibited from using the Internet and other kinds of contact.
The 19-year-old could face up to three years in prison for disparaging the Russian army and up to seven years for justifying terrorism. As Ms. Olesya faced administrative charges in May for degrading the Russian army by distributing anti-war posters and then was accused of undermining the Russian army on social media in October, her case could become more serious, according to her attorney.
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