The Moscow Prosecutor’s Office has opened a criminal case against Russian blogger Yury Dud for “evading the duties of a foreign agent”, according to a statement from the institution, quoted by IPN.
According to the cited source, Russian prosecutors have determined that Yury Dud was “held administratively accountable twice within a year for violating the procedures regarding the activities of a foreign agent, yet he continued to distribute messages and materials through a messenger without indicating that they were created and/or distributed by a person performing the functions of a foreign agent, thereby violating the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation”.
The maximum penalty for this offense is two years in prison.
Yury Dud is a well-known blogger from Russia, who conducts interviews with politicians, actors, and other celebrities. After Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Dudi spoke out against the war and left the country. Shortly thereafter, in April 2022, the Russian Ministry of Justice declared him a “foreign agent”.
Previously, similar criminal cases have been opened against other Russian journalists and activists, including the editor-in-chief of “Mediazona”, Sergey Smirnov, and the former editor-in-chief of “Republic”, the founder of the Ekaterinburg publication “It’s my City”, Dmitry Kolezev.
