Key facts
- A St. Petersburg court issued a 4,000 ruble fine to a resident for posting drone attack aftermath footage online.
- The fine is the first of its kind in St. Petersburg.
- Russian authorities have banned the publication of material showing drone strikes and other attacks without official permission since January 2025.
- The July 24 drone attack targeted Wildberries logistics facilities in St. Petersburg, Tver, and Crimea.
- Wildberries warehouses near Moscow were also damaged in recent drone attacks.
A court in St. Petersburg has imposed the city's first fine for disseminating footage of a drone attack's aftermath, with a local resident being penalized 4,000 rubles ($47). The ruling comes as Russian authorities intensify efforts to control information regarding Ukrainian strikes, having banned the publication of such material without official consent since January 2025.
This measure is part of a broader campaign to prevent the spread of what authorities term "fake news." Previously, in May, a court in Tula Oblast issued a 25,000 ruble ($294) fine to an individual for filming and posting a video of a Ukrainian drone strike.
The July 24 drone attack in question was a large-scale operation that targeted logistics facilities operated by Wildberries, Russia's largest online retailer, in St. Petersburg and Tver, as well as in Russian-occupied Crimea. Wildberries has been a frequent target of Ukrainian strikes in recent months.
Further attacks impacted Wildberries facilities near Moscow on August 18 and August 16, with the latter strike damaging the company's largest warehouse. The retailer's platform lists military-related equipment, including drone components and body armor. Its banking arm faced sanctions from the European Union in July due to its financial contributions to the Russian state budget.