St. Petersburg court fines Russian for posting drone attack aftermath online

On August 18, a court in St. Petersburg handed down Russia's first fine for publishing footage of a drone attack aftermath. The offender, a local resident, was hit with a 4,000 ruble ($47) penalty for posting a video online following a major Ukrainian drone assault on St. Petersburg on July 24. The specific contents of the footage were not disclosed by authorities.

Since January 2025, the Russian government has prohibited the dissemination of material depicting drone strikes and other attacks without prior authorization. This move is part of a broader effort by Russian authorities to exert greater control over information concerning Ukrainian strikes, which they claim is aimed at curbing the spread of "fake news."

In May, a Russian court in Tula Oblast imposed the first fine under the new law, ordering a local resident to pay 25,000 rubles ($294) for filming and sharing a video of a Ukrainian drone strike. A large-scale Ukrainian drone attack targeting logistics facilities belonging to Wildberries, Russia's largest online retailer, occurred on July 24.

The attack impacted Wildberries warehouses in St. Petersburg, Tver, and Russian-occupied Crimea. Ukrainian strikes have frequently targeted the company in recent months, with another strike on Aug. 18 damaging a Wildberries warehouse near Moscow. The incident followed another major attack on Moscow Oblast on Aug. 16 that caused significant damage to Wildberries' largest warehouse, a 250,000-square-meter facility.

Wildberries sells military-related equipment, including drone components and body armor, on its platform. Its banking arm was sanctioned by the European Union in July due to its financial support for the Russian state budget.