19:24, 3 March 2026

A Rostov blogger received a prison sentence in a case involving fake news about the army.

The Rostov Regional Court sentenced blogger Sergei Kaplienko to five years in a general regime penal colony for a video and comments about the attack on a city shopping center.

As "Caucasian Knot" reported, in October 2025, the Proletarsky District Court of Rostov-on-Don heard the case of blogger Sergei Kaplienko, accused of spreading fake news about the actions of the Russian armed forces. By the end of April 2024, he had already been fined. The Proletarsky District Court ruled on the case, finding him guilty of discrediting the Russian army.

Blogger Sergey Kaplienko was known by the nicknames politologus and PR0X0D4IK. He had been streaming on Twitch since late 2015, having previously worked on other platforms. In his channel description, Kaplienko described himself as a versatile streamer: in addition to gaming, he broadcast his "travels to interesting places" and "simply chatted about various topics." Sergey Kaplienko is a native of the Salsky District of the Rostov Region. On August 22, the blogger's information was added to the Rosfinmonitoring register of terrorists and extremists, according to a message from a bot tracking updates to the list.

According to the prosecution, Kaplienko published a video claiming that the Russian army had attacked a Rostov shopping center, causing a fire and damaging residential buildings.

"He accompanied his comments to the video with a crude, obscene, negative assessment of the activities of the Russian Armed Forces and their command," the press service of the Rostov Regional Court reported today.

The 39-year-old defendant pleaded guilty to the charges. The appellate panel found Kapliyenko guilty of publicly disseminating knowingly false information, under the guise of reliable news, containing data on the use of the Armed Forces, motivated by political hatred. .

Kapliyenko was sentenced to five years in a general regime penal colony with a three-year ban on online broadcasts for three years after his release, the court ruling stated.

"Caucasian Knot" also reported that a court in Novoshakhtinsk sentenced local resident Vadim Davydenko to seven years in prison, after finding calls for violence against Russian military personnel in his Telegram comments. Davydenko was also found guilty of illegal trafficking of explosives for possessing 47 grams of gunpowder.

Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/421287