Local officials have stated that two ladies in the Russian-occupied territory of Crimea in Ukraine, including the winner of this year’s Miss Crimea pageant, were found guilty of disparaging the Russian army by singing a Ukrainian patriotic song in a social media video. Olga Valeyeva, the winner of the Miss Crimea 2022 contest, and an unidentified companion sang the popular Ukrainian song “Chervona Kalyna” on a balcony.
A 24-hour auto-destructing video of the women singing was posted on Instagram stories.
Valeyeva was fined 40,000 rubles (about $673), while her friend received a 10-day prison sentence, according to the Crimean police.
The Interior Ministry of Crimea, a peninsula that Russia invaded unilaterally in 2014, announced on Telegram on Monday that a video of two girls performing a song that is the fighting anthem of an extremist organization had been posted online.
It was reported that a court found the 1987 and 1989-born women guilty of disparaging the Russian army and publicly displaying Nazi emblems.
Russia, whose forces are engaged in combat in Ukraine, frequently asserts that the national symbols of Kiev are radical and Nazi-like.
The Crimean police also published a video of the women apologizing for singing the song while their faces were obscured.
One of the women stated in the video, “I did not know or comprehend that song had a nationalist tone, nor did I intend to propagate propaganda by singing it.”
Valeyeva previously stated on Instagram that she did not intend to “hurt anyone.”
She wrote, “I had no idea that this song was associated with something and hence prohibited.” “We just sang a Ukrainian song. We believed it to be a simple tune that we had known for years.”
On Telegram, Oleg Kriuchkov, an advisor to the governor of occupied Crimea, stated, “In Crimea, nobody is punished for singing standard Ukrainian songs.” However, no one will permit the singing of nationalist hymns here!
After Chervona Kalyna was played at a wedding last month, the Moscow-installed leader of the peninsula, Sergei Aksyonov, warned Crimeans that authorities would react “harshly” to such music.
“Singing such nationalist anthems — especially during the special military operation — will be punished,” Aksyonov said in a September video on Telegram, citing Moscow’s nomenclature for its invasion of Ukraine.
“Those who act in this manner are traitors,” he continued.
According to Aksyonov, a special FSB security agency group is investigating the situation.
Russia took Crimea from Ukraine during a previous invasion in 2014, and has exploited the peninsula to conduct operations against Ukraine in the ongoing conflict.
In August, explosions and fires ravaged an ammunition storage facility in Crimea, prompting the evacuation of more than 3,000 people.