The prosecutor’s office is checking Yuri Dud under an article about discrediting the army – Kommersant

The Moscow prosecutor’s office began an investigation against journalist Yuri Dud (recognized as a foreign agent) under the article on discrediting the Russian army (Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Law enforcement agencies reported this to TASS. The review will last at least until early December.

According to the agency’s interlocutor, the reason for the investigation was a request from a certain “social activist” regarding the journalist’s interview with singer Victoria Tsyganova and her husband Vadim. As TASS notes, the head of the Federal Project on Security and Anti-Corruption, Vitaly Borodin, previously contacted the prosecutor’s office.

He indicated that during the interview with the Tsyganovs, Yuri Dud “expressed his opinion in a cynical and derogatory form” about the actions of the Russian army in Ukraine, about the president and representatives of government agencies. The journalist called the special military operation a “war,” Mr. Borodin noted. Vitaly Borodin has repeatedly asked the prosecutor’s office to check Russian figures because of their position on the situation in Ukraine.

An interview entitled “Vika and Vadim Tsyganov, who support the Russian army” was published on Yuri Dud’s YouTube channel on October 27 and received over 10 million views. The journalist himself has repeatedly spoken out against the special operation in Ukraine. In 2022, he left Russia.

Yuriy Dud was added to the register of foreign agents on April 15, 2022. The journalist tried to challenge the legality of this decision and also filed a complaint about failure to notify him of being included in the register. The court rejected the claims. At one of the meetings, it became known that the reason for his inclusion in the register was the dissemination of messages from foreign agents and receiving money for advertising from YouTube.

Lusine Balasyan