Russia has sentenced a resident of the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk to 7 1/2 years in prison for posts he made criticizing Soviet dictator Josef Stalin as well as the invasion of Ukraine.
Igor Orlovsky was convicted of “rehabilitating Nazism” for posting that “Stalin was the same aggressor as Hitler.”
He was also convicted of spreading “fakes” about the Russian military for posting that Moscow bombed civilians hiding in a drama theater in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.
Russian President Vladimir Putin outlawed criticism of the invasion of Ukraine and of the Russian armed forces days after he launched the war amid small-scale spontaneous protests around the country.
Hundreds of Russian citizens have been detained and dozens sentenced to prison for posting facts or views about the war in Ukraine that the authorities deem harmful.
An investigation by Amnesty International and the Associated Press concluded that Russia bombed the Mariupol theater, killing dozens to hundreds of civilians, including children.
Russia has denied targeting the theater, blaming it on Ukrainian artillery. Experts said the damage was consistent with a heavy bomb delivered by plane.
Putin has also sought to defend the Soviet Union’s record in World War II, describing it as a victim of Nazi aggression and papering over Stalin’s decision to invade Poland, Finland, and the Baltic States prior to the 1941 Nazi invasion.
It is not the first time Orlovsky has been sentenced for his views on the war. In March, he was handed a three-year prison term for extremism for calling for the death of “Russian occupiers” in Ukraine.