Russian Actor Sentenced to 8 Years in Prison Over Army Statements

A court in Moscow sentenced actor Artur Smolyaninov, who is designated in Russia as a foreign agent, to eight years in a general-regime penal colony. The court found him guilty of publicly disseminating knowingly false information about the Russian Armed Forces. The court also banned the actor from administering websites and internet pages for a period of four years. State prosecutor Diana Galiullina stated that the actor "smears the country and the president,” and argued that the correction of a "traitor to the motherland” is only possible in isolation, as reported by Mediazona, which is listed in Russia as a foreign agent media outlet.