A once-famous blogger was sentenced in absentia to eight years and a 99-million-ruble fine.

      Blogger Ilya Varlamov* has been sentenced in absentia to eight years' imprisonment and a fine of 99 million rubles. According to Kommersant, the blogger is to serve the sentence in a general‑regime penal colony. In addition, the court has banned him from administering websites for four years.

      The blogger was found guilty of disseminating knowingly false information about the Armed Forces of Russia motivated by political hatred (Part 2 of Article 207 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), as well as of evading the performance of the duties of a foreign agent (Part 2 of Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to investigators, the blogger spread false information about the Russian army on his YouTube channel.

      It should be recalled that Varlamov* became memorable to Kirov residents when he visited our city in 2018 to film an episode for his project “The Big Road with the Mayor.” At that time the head of Kirov’s city administration was Ilya Shulgin. Together with Varlamov* Shulgin walked around Kirov and during the walk discussed issues of improving the city. In particular, the blogger drew Shulgin’s attention to broken sidewalks, numerous puddles, yellow fences, the absence of road markings, litter and many other shortcomings. In response, Ilya Shulgin promised that “next year the city will become better” and invited Varlamov to visit Kirov the following year.

      It should be recalled that in February 2023 a sentence was handed down to Ilya Shulgin, who was accused under Part 3 of Article 33 and Part 3 of Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (organization of abuse and abuse of official powers). Shulgin and the former director of UDPI, Alexey Ishutinov, were accused of agreeing at the end of 2019 to the supply of 20 substandard cameras that were supposed to monitor road violations. The equipment was delivered, resulting in material damage to the municipal formation “City of Kirov” in the amount of 21 million rubles.

      The court found Shulgin and Ishutinov guilty and sentenced them to 2.5 and 1.5 years in a general‑regime penal colony, respectively.