A Crimean beauty queen was found guilty of ‘discrediting’ Vladimir Putin’s army by singing a pro-Ukrainian song, glamsquad reports.
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Olga Valeyeva, 34, shared a video on Instagram of herself and a friend singing Chervona Kalyna, a Ukrainian resistance anthem.
Valeyeva was crowned Mrs Crimea this year, but the clip landed the mother-of-two in hot water in the Ukrainian peninsular that Russia annexed in 2014.
Valeyeva was fined and her friend was imprisoned for ten days under Russia’s draconian laws enacted in response to Putin’s army’s February invasion of mainland Ukraine.
By singing the song in Ukrainian, both women were charged with ‘discrediting’ the Russian armed forces and ‘promoting extremist symbols,’ as Moscow’s forces continue to be pushed back on the mainland by Kyiv’s forces.
Russian prosecutors claimed they ‘displayed Nazi symbols in public,’ but Putin’s officials now consider all Ukrainian symbols to be Nazi. They were later forced to record a video apologizing for their actions.
The song is considered an anthem of Ukrainian nationalist formations, including groups banned in Russia, by Putin’s repressive police. Crimea is Ukraine, according to international law. It was taken over by Putin’s forces in 2014.
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Valeyeva was fined £600, which was seen as a milder punishment because she has young children. Her friend Viktoria Amargalieva, 33, was imprisoned for ten days.
‘I sincerely apologise for singing Chervona Kalina, the meaning of which I had no idea,’ Olga said in her humble apology.
‘I had no idea it was nationalistic, and I had no intention of sending a propaganda message by singing it.’ I’d also like to apologize for inadvertently offending or insulting citizens by singing this song.’
‘I want to apologize that we performed a song with a meaning we didn’t know,’ Amargalieva said before being arrested.
‘I apologize to anyone who has been offended.’