Facing jail for a joke: the entrepreneur risking three years in prison over social media post
A programmer and entrepreneur from Ryazan region southeast of Moscow, is being prosecuted for discrediting the Russian army after posting a joke on social media about the war in Ukraine.
By Natalia Zotova.
“Sergey, but why are we retreating from Kherson?”
“Vladimir, you yourself ordered the liberation of Ukraine from fascists and Nazis…”
This is a joke referring to Sergey Shoigu, Russia's Defence Minister, Russian president Vladimir Putin, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine which was presented by Kremlin as a 'special military operation' to 'liberate' Ukraine of 'Nazi regime'.
Vasily Bolshakov, a 38-year-old programmer and entrepreneur from the town of Kasimov, 160 miles east of Moscow in the Ryazan region, posted this joke on VKontakte, Russia’s equivalent of Facebook. He is now facing up to three years in prison as a result.
The case was filed under article 280.3 which prohibits "discrediting" Russia’s Armed Forces. Passed in March 2022, the law has been used frequently since the start of the war against those who publicly criticise Russia’s war effort.
Russian lawyer Anastasia Burakova notes it is not the first time political humour has clashed with the law in recent times, but since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, jokes surrounding the war have become a new issue.
On 14 February, Bolshakov’s home was searched by security forces. Speaking to the BBC, Bolshakov, a father of three children aged 2-7, said they were very aggressive at first, but calmed down after his wife, who is heavily pregnant with their fourth child, pleaded with them, asking “why are you doing this? He isn’t resisting.”
Following the search of his property the decision to initiate criminal proceedings was signed symbolically on 24 February 2023 – the first anniversary of the start of the invasion of Ukraine.
Reported by other social media users
Alongside his programming job Bolshakov owns a youth club in his hometown of Kasimov. The club helps to combat the drinking problem among the town’s youth, providing a valuable space where people can hold events and play board games.
“It's not about the money, it’s about making sure young people don’t end up drinking,” Bolshakov explained. “There’s nothing to do in this town. A lot of young people drink.”
“On the whole people are prosecuted for more outspoken criticism of the government, whether directly in the form of anti-war posters, or in more indirect, subtle ways like wearing ribbons or yellow and blue laces. But telling a joke hasn’t been classed as a form of political discrediting until now.”
“The social space doesn’t bring in any revenue,” he says. “I do it for the community. I’ll be paying it off for another 5-10 years, but that’s okay because it serves a purpose. I’m now giving away my ownership so it doesn’t suffer because of my actions.”
Bolshakov’s problems began in Spring 2022, when one of his posts in the Russian social media network VKontakte was reported to the authorities. At that time he was just fined. A criminal case can only filed for 'discrediting the armed forces' repeatedly during the course of a year, but Bolshakov was reported three more times.
Bolshakov and the people who reported him to the authorities don’t know each other. “I wrote comments sort of saying that Russians [former prisoners] who are fighting there [in Ukraine] are, according to Russian law, criminals. Some people didn’t like that,” he says.
A court case was filed shortly after his post was reported to the authorities, but he has also been reported on two other occasions. His lawyer, Andrey Kuryatnikov, suggests this could lead to further investigations.
They didn’t manage to leave Russia in time
Bolshakov often made posts and commented on VKontakte. Some were in response to the Wagner mercenary group’s recruitment adverts aimed at serving prisoners which horrified him; “Putin’s Palace” in Gelendzhik, exposed as a shrine to corruption by Alexei Navalny’s team in 2021 left him similarly astonished. On another occasion he commented that the USSR foreshadowed a fascist state.
“I’m the kind of person, not pro-revolution, but I just can’t sit in silence. Staying silent is disastrous for this country.”
After the invasion the couple started to think about leaving the country. The decision was eventually forced upon them after the announcement of partial mobilisation. Taking their children with them, they fled to Turkey, where they lived for several months. It was during this time, whilst he and his family lived in the safety of another country, that Bolshakov posted the joke.
They were planning on settling in South America for good and hoped to travel to Argentina in time for the birth of their fourth child who would be able to receive birthright citizenship. They decided to return home temporarily to sell their car and settle their affairs but are now stuck there. Bolshakov’s passport was confiscated during the police search and is now black-listed, making international travel impossible.
Bolshakov’s lawyer is himself bemused by the case. He points out that nothing in the post can directly be seen to “discredit” the military. “There’s no real discrediting in his post. Everybody already knows this joke, and it’s been told by lots of people,” Kuryatnikov tells the BBC.
‘Shifting boundaries’
“If I were to go back in time thirty years ago and tell my grandfather about this, he wouldn’t believe it. He’d tell me that kind of stuff was long gone. They can’t be putting people in prison for jokes still,” he says. “But it seems as though they can now.”
Anthropologist Alexandra Arkhipova, whose studies include modern folklore, memes, jokes and satire, notes that since the start of the war jokes have rarely formed the basis of criminal investigations.
“On the whole people are prosecuted for more outspoken criticism of the government, whether directly in the form of anti-war posters, or in more indirect, subtle ways like wearing ribbons or yellow and blue laces. But telling a joke hasn’t been classed as a form of political discrediting until now.”
“Has the guiding principle that “we only punish for serious offences” been forgotten?” Arkhipova asks on her Telegram channel, a popular social media platform in Russia. “In any case, the definitions of what 'discrediting' means, have once again shifted."
Read this story in Russian here.
Translated by Duncan Roche.