ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- A court in Russia has ordered prominent columnist and outspoken Kremlin critic Viktor Shenderovich and the defunct Ekho Moskvy radio station to pay an additional 3.5 million rubles ($57,200) to businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close associate of President Vladimir Putin, for damaging his dignity and reputation.
A St. Petersburg court ruled on September 7 that Shenderovich must pay 1.5 million rubles and Ekho Moskvy 2 million rubles to Prigozhin.
In December, a lower court in St. Petersburg ordered Shenderovich to pay 100,000 rubles, and the radio station 1 million rubles to Prigozhin, who appealed against the ruling, insisting that the fines were too low.
Shenderovich, 63, a columnist for The New Times, fled Russia for an unspecified country in January.
He has criticized Prigozhin for allegedly leading the private Russian military contractor Vagner Group, a paramilitary force that Western governments say the Kremlin has been using in conflicts in Ukraine, Libya, Syria, Sudan, Mozambique, and the Central African Republic.
Prigozhin has been put under sanctions by the United States, Britain, and the European Union "in connection with his dealings with the Russian Federation's Ministry of Defense and his efforts to subvert U.S. democratic processes."
Prigozhin has denied the international allegations.
Shenderovich was placed on the "foreign agent" list by the Justice Ministry in December. Russia's "foreign agent" laws require those designated to register with the authorities and label their content with an intrusive disclaimer or face administrative fines.
Kremlin critics say the "foreign agent" designation brings up Soviet-era connotations and is intended to root out any independent, civic activity in Russia.
Ekho Moskvy, an independent Russian media outlet critical of the Kremlin, halted operations in March after the Prosecutor-General's Office took the radio station off the air for distributing what the authorities called information "calling for extremist activities, violence, and premeditated false information" about Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine launched in late February.