Russia sentences Ukrainian TV personality in absentia for inciting enmity and hatred against Russians

The Basmanny District Court of Moscow has imposed an absentee sentence of 8 years in jail on Ukrainian TV personality Yanina Sokolova under the article of promoting hatred or enmity.

Source: Moscow Prosecutor’s Office, as reported by Meduza, a Latvia-based Russian media outlet

Details: According to the Russian Federation's Prosecutor’s Office, in an interview with one of Ukrainian TV channels and on her own YouTube channel called Evening with Yanina Sokolova, the TV presenter "addressed an indefinite circle of people with a speech containing statements expressing and forming a contemptuous and hostile attitude towards Russians."

Against the backdrop of criminal prosecution in Russia, Sokolova was added to the registry of "extremists and terrorists," as well as the wanted list.

In August 2022, Aleksandr Bastrykin, the Head of the Russian Federation's Investigative Committee, demanded that criminal proceedings be initiated against Sokolova. According to the statement, the TV presenter in an interview with NTA "voiced the position on the need to kill Russian people on a national basis," as well as "openly expressed threats against representatives of the Russian people, emphasising the need for their merciless destruction."

According to Mediazona, Sokolova has been charged with two counts of inciting ethnic hatred.

Russia is a terrorist state that has engaged in hybrid aggression against Ukraine since 2014 and has been waging a full-scale war since 2022, committing war crimes on a daily basis.

Support UP or become our patron!