Investigators explain absence of blogger Kharchenko* on the web by case on fakes

Vadim Kharchenko*, a blogger from the city of Gelendjik, is under investigation within a criminal case of discrediting the Russian Army after posting a video on his YouTube channel.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 20, some acquaintances of Kharchenko* expressed fear for his life, pointing out that he had not been in touch for two weeks. Vadim was arrested under a criminal case on discrediting the army, the sources have informed.

A source from the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) has specified that, despite the criminal case initiated against him on February 2, on February 5, Kharchenko* posted a video criticizing authorities in his channel.

In his turn, the blogger asserts that he had not posted the video, and there is no negative assessment of the armed forces in it. For a repeated offense against the Russian Army, he may face criminal liability.

The subscribers to Kharchenko's channel assure that they had never seen the video clips for which he was prosecuted; and he had never publicly expressed his pacifist position; on the contrary, he stated that he was ready to go "to defend the Motherland." Some believe that Kharchenko himself deleted the videos; according to others, the clips did not exist at all, and special services "create a legend" out of Kharchenko.

In his latest video posted on the YouTube, Vadim Kharchenko criticized Russian authorities' foreign policy and accused them of "never being responsible for anything."