Russian Writer Charged With Discrediting Armed Forces After Street Talk

An 82-year-old Russian writer was charged with discrediting Russia's armed forces involved in Moscow's invasion of Ukraine after speaking to a man while selling his books in a park in the city of Perm. Artyom Faizulin, a lawyer for writer Aleksandr Nikonov, said on June 20 that the man who talked to his client reported to the police that Nikonov recommended that he should not to go to the war in Ukraine and should instead listen to what opposition activists are saying about Russia's aggression. Investigators then checked Nikonov’s books and defined them as "literature aimed at discrediting the Russian Federation's armed forces." To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.