Russia has imposed its first fine for internet searches about “extremist” content. What the fined man wrote on Google
Kremlin. Photo: Andrey Polyanskiy | Dreamstime.com
Sergei Glukhikh, a 20-year-old Russian, was fined 3,000 rubles ($38) on Wednesday after he was accused of typing “Azov” into Google on September 28, independent Russian publications The Moscow Times and Mediazona reported.
Signed by President Vladimir Putin this summer, the law introduces fines of up to 5,000 rubles ($65) for “knowingly” searching for extremist material online, including through VPN services.
Glukhikh was arrested in September after a police officer saw what he had searched on Google while riding next to him on the bus.
Glukhikh was originally accused of seeking information on Ukraine's Azov Brigade and the Russian Volunteer Corps, but the judge sent the case back for review due to confusion over multiple Russian databases of extremist material.
In the end, Glukhikh was put on trial just for Googling information about the Azov Brigade. Glukhikh, who pleaded not guilty, was released from custody and was not present at the sentencing.
The Azov Brigade was formed in 2014 as a far-right volunteer paramilitary unit fighting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, but was later reformed and integrated into Ukraine's national guard.
Russia's Supreme Court declared it a “terrorist” organization in 2022, making it possible for captured Azov fighters to receive longer prison terms.
Moscow has used Azov's far-right roots to justify what it calls an operation to “denazify” Ukraine.
