Vladimir Putin fan condemned: In Germany, the case of Kremlin supporter Elena Kolbasnikova causes a stir. She has now received a punishment.
Munich/Cologne – Is it a criminal offense in Germany to publicly support Russia’s aggression in the Ukraine war?
Probably the German Kremlin supporter with the widest reach on social media is Alina Lipp. According to her own statements, the North German now lives in the Donbass, from where she denies, for example, the Bucha massacre on Telegram (180,000 subscribers).
A Cologne supporter of Moscow ruler Vladimir Putin named Elena Kolbasnikova also caused a nationwide sensation. Because she is said to have approved of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine in an interview at a demonstration she organized in May 2022, she was recently fined by the Cologne district court.
In the video: Compact – The most important news about the Russia-Ukraine war
Specifically, the district court found the accused guilty of approving criminal offenses, as a court spokeswoman said. In relation to the demonstration described, a pro-Russian motorcade in Cologne, Kolbasnikova claimed in an interview that Russia was not an aggressor and instead was allegedly helping to end the war in Ukraine.
Elena Kolbasnikova fined Putin supporter
Because this could disturb “public peace” in Germany, the 48-year-old was “guilty of approving criminal offenses,” said the responsible judge. Kolbasnikova had organized the car parade in the Rhine metropolis with over 1000 people. According to the organizer, the aim of the event was to promote peace between Germany and Russia.
Kolbasnikova later organized more pro-Russian demos in Cologne, reports the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ). In addition, she is said to have been the administrator of chat groups on Telegram, in which the “Z” was regularly posted. There is said to have been at least one recruitment call for the Wagner mercenary group there. As the report goes on to say, Kolbasnikova and her husband Max Schlund are loud SZ an active “Reichsbürger” who also traveled to the Russian-occupied part of eastern Ukraine last fall.
Elena Kolbasnikova: Putin supporter traveled to Donbass with her husband
There they handed out heaters to Russian soldiers, the newspaper writes. The Cologne City Gazette also reports that the couple delivered “body armor, radios and broadcast transmitters.” The newspaper relies on information from legal circles. Both are said to have been filmed in the Donbass by the Russian television station Zargrad TV, which is close to the Kremlin. The North Rhine-Westphalian head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Jürgen Kayser, had married the couple Cologne City Gazette referred to as “influencers (…) who are obviously supported by Moscow”.
The punishment pronounced against Kolbasnikova: 30 daily rates of 30 euros each. Loud SZ but she doesn’t want to pay and is appealing. The woman who serves as an example of when and how Putin fans in Germany can be prosecuted. (pm)
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