Olesya Krivtsiva, a 21-year-old Russian student is placed under house arrest with an electronic tag. The charges on her are – criticizing the Ukraine war, or Russia’s special military operation.
Russian student placed under house arrest for criticizing the Ukraine war
Olesya Krivtsiva, a 21-year-old Russian student at the Northern Federal University was apprehended for making anti-war posts on social media. She is charged with the crimes of justifying terrorism and discrediting the Russian military. Currently, Krivtsiva faces as many as 10 years in prison in addition to being on Russia’s list of extremists and terrorists. While under house arrest, she is banned from going online. This is not the first time Russians condemning the war in Ukraine are facing extreme consequences.
“I posted an Instagram story about the bridge, reflecting on how Ukrainians were also happy with what had happened,” stated Krivtsova, in a conversation with the BBC on Tuesday. She is referring to a post related to the explosion of the bridge linking Crimea and Russia in October 2022. Additionally, she added that she shared a friend’s post on the Ukraine war.
More on the house arrest
In her interview, she revealed she was talking to her mother on the whole when she heard the front door opening and police storming in. “They (the police) also took away my phone and shouted at me to lie on the floor. I never imagined anyone could get such a long prison sentence for posting something on the internet,” she stated. “When I realized I’d been put on the same list as school shooters and the Islamic State group I thought it was crazy,” she added.
She stated that a friend “showed me a post. About me in a chat,” explaining how she was against the Ukraine war. Additionally, most of the students in the chat group were history students discussing if they should denounce her to the authorities. Moreover, one message was accusing her of “provocative posts of a defeatist and extremist character. This is out of place for wartime. It must be nipped in the bud. First, let’s try to discredit her. If she doesn’t get it, let the security services deal with it”.