Propagandist from pro-Russian Crimean channel "Millet" faces up to 12 years in prison

The authorities notified the director of the Institute of Media Communications, Media Technologies and Design of the occupied V.I. Vernadsky Federal University of Crimea of suspicion for justifying armed aggression against Ukraine and inciting nation-based enmity, reports the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol City.

According to the investigators, the suspect hosted an original program on the propaganda TV channel "Millet" in 2022–2023, where he promoted the aggressor state's narratives and supported the occupation of Crimea and Ukraine's other regions.

Photo by the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol City

He alleged that the temporarily occupied territories "historically belong" to Russia, positively assessed "their liberation during the SMO" and asserted that "Ukraine as a state should not exist in the future."

In several episodes, the suspect stressed that Russia is in fact "fighting the collective Europe under the yellow and blue banners", and shifted the blame for the war in Ukraine and the death of people to the USA, the Prosecutor's Office notes.

He encouraged Crimeans to obtain Russian passports and offered to take those who support the Ukrainian Armed Forces "to a Ukrainian enlistment center."

His actions were classified as:

• public calls for actions aimed at changing the territorial outline and state border of Ukraine (parts 1, 2 of Article 110 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine);
• collaborationism (Part 6 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine);
• deliberate actions aimed at inciting nation-based enmity (Part 1 of Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine);
• justification of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine through mass media (Part 3 of Article 436-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

For these actions, the suspect faces up to 12 years in prison.

Earlier, a Ukrainian court convicted the CEO of the pro-occupation media holding "Broadcasting Company Crimea" of collaborationism, trespassing against the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine, justifying Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine, and committing actions aimed at forceful change or overthrow of the constitutional order or take-over of government, and sentenced him to 12 years in prison.