A Russian journalist was fined Tuesday for discrediting the Russian army by explaining her anti-war tattoo in a telecasted interview, the independent Mediazona news site reported.Yulia Starostina, a previous reporter for news outlets The Bell, Proekt and RBC, talked to the independent broadcaster Dozhd for a December segment about Russians providing assistance to Ukrainian refugees within the country.In the interview, Starostina said that her anti-war tattoo served as a suggestion that love and friendship are stronger than war.

She also explained that she had been providing humanitarian aid to Ukrainian refugees in Russia given that April 2022 due to the fact that I feel an obligation not to be silent, to do something to bring this war to an end.

The authorities figured out that both statements contained lack of confidences toward what the Kremlin calls its unique military operation in Ukraine.Moscows Tverskoy District Court found Starostina guilty on administrative charges of discrediting Russias military and purchased her to pay a fine of 50,000 rubles ($670), Mediazona reported.Russia forbade declarations that discredit the Russian Armed Forces or spread so-called fake news about the Russian militarys actions abroad quickly after it got into Ukraine in February 2022.

The laws have actually because been used to prosecute hundreds of reporters, activists and routine residents who publicly oppose the war-- and have daunted countless more into silence or running away the country.