In Russia, the rector of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in the village of Karabanovo, Kostroma region, Ioan Burdin, was fined for delivering an anti-war sermon on a Sunday liturgy.
This was reported by the Russian media and the human rights project "Merezhovi svobody" which provided legal support to the priest.
Burdin was fined 35,000 rubles under a new article of the Administrative Code RF effective on 3 March 2022 for "discrediting the use of Russian troops." On 6 March 2022, he delivered an anti-war sermon at Sunday's liturgy in the church and thus, according to the protocol, "committed public actions aimed at discrediting the Russian Armed Forces, which are conducting a special operation in Ukraine."
Also, the priest posted on the parish website a link to the Change.org petition calling for an end to war actions in Ukraine. On 4 March 2022, the Russian Parliament urgently passed a new bill that introduces criminal and administrative liability for disseminating "known as false information about the activities of the Russian Armed Forces" and "for discrediting the use of Russian troops." According to "Merezhovi svobody," sixty people were detained the first three days after the law became effective. Russian authorities usually call "false information" the data on the losses of its troops after the invasion of Ukraine. Dissemination of such information is punished with up to fifteen years in prison. State employees and schoolchildren in Russia are forced to write letters to the occupiers fighting in Ukraine. The pro-government political party, "Yedyna Rosiia," announced the project and "sketched" the theses on which these letters should be written. Currently, the Russian military-patriotic movement, "Unarmiya," which will be engaged in children's and youth training, has joined the "action."