Photo: Ilya Varlamov / Telegram
Popular Russian blogger Ilya Varlamov was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison on Thursday for spreading “false information” about the Russian army for covering the invasion of Ukraine on his YouTube channel, independent news outlet Mediazona has reported.
Varlamov was also fined 99.5 million rubles (over €1 million), which the court estimated to be his income for 2023, for failure to comply with his obligations as a “foreign agent”.
Varlamov was charged over a video he posted on 23 November 2023, in which he spoke about Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities, including a deadly airstrike on a residential building in Kryvyi Rih in June of the same year, in which 11 people were killed.
Varlamov’s YouTube channel, which has over 5 million subscribers, initially gained a following for his travel content from different locations worldwide. However, it later evolved into a platform for political content, with Varlamov launching a weekly news show titled “What’s Happening?” in which he reviews current events.
Varlamov has openly opposed the Russian invasion of Ukraine and remained critical of the Kremlin’s policies in his coverage. Branded a “foreign agent” in March 2023, he has resided outside of Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion and refused to disclose his “foreign agent” status in his videos, as required by Russian law.
“Friends! Today is an amazing day! I’ve become a criminal,” Varlamov quipped on his Telegram channel following the ruling on Thursday, posting a photo of himself near a birch tree, explaining that he had done so to “not lose connection to his homeland.”
“They say I didn’t read the press releases of the Defence Ministry carefully enough, and now the Motherland is suggesting that I sit down and think about my behaviour,” he wrote.
Varlamov added that he would not be discouraged by “such trifles" and, although he was unable to attend the hearing in person, he believed that the court had “done a great job” without him. “I’ll be admiring birch trees in a foreign land for a while. Everything will be fine,” he concluded.