At least 75 Russians were fined for publishing information about UAV attacks

At least 75 Russians were fined for publishing information about UAV attacks

In Russia in 2025-2026, at least 80 people were punished for sharing information about the aftermath of Ukrainian drone attacks, Verstka calculated after analyzing court databases.

Of these, 75 people were fined amounts ranging from 1,000 to 30,000 rubles, while in five cases courts limited themselves to a warning.

Cases are opened even if a person sent the information to colleagues or relatives. In Volgograd Region, a Russian language teacher at a rural school was fined 3,000 rubles for forwarding a voice message to a 15-person work chat. The audio recording, as the court established, spoke “about a UAV attack on facilities in a populated locality, indicating the date, time, names, and which specific facilities were damaged.”

Administrative offense reports have been drawn up under different articles. In some regions, residents were punished for violating regional laws: orders from operational headquarters and governors. In annexed Crimea, cases are opened under the federal article on failure to comply with rules of conduct during an emergency situation (Article 20.6.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).

In Karachay-Cherkessia, two people were fined 30,000 rubles each under the article on abuse of freedom of mass information (Article 13.15 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation). They filmed a video in which they said that a UAV had attacked an unfinished hotel in a resort settlement. The court recognized this information as “knowingly false”.

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