Believing Your Own Lies Is a Dangerous Symptom Margarita Belykh is an 80-year-old pensioner from Primorsko-Akhtarsk, a town in Russia’s Krasnodar region. In January 2024, she left a negative comment in the local public group “Overheard in Akhtari,” criticizing the head of the Akhtarsky District, Maksim Bondarenko. Like many other locals, Margarita was outraged by the authorities’ neglect of the natural area "Balka Shamrai" reportedly illegally developed and reeking of sewage. “Our district head lies constantly, lies as easily as he breathes. The worst part is, he actually believes his own lies and that’s a dangerous symptom,” Belykh wrote. She called Bondarenko a "pathological liar in office" and said that not even the prosecutor’s office could hold him accountable. The district head took offense and filed a lawsuit to protect his honor, dignity, and business reputation. He demanded the comment be deleted and sought 1,000 rubles in compensation. The court ruled in Bondarenko’s favor. Later, in 2025, the official went back to court. This time to demand reimbursement for his legal expenses. He claimed that Belykh owed him 300,000 rubles for attorney fees and court costs. The judge approved the claim but reduced the amount to 85,000 rubles. Now, until 2030, the pensioner must pay Maksim Bondarenko 1,500 rubles every month. She chose not to appeal the decision. She simply can’t afford to travel to Krasnodar for court hearings. A SpongeBob Worth 50,000 Rubles Evgeny Zaitsev, a local deputy from Ozersk in the Chelyabinsk region, took offense at being compared to SpongeBob SquarePants. The comparison was made by a local activist, civic figure, and blogger Pyotr Martyushov covering political life in the city. Martyushov called Zaitsev a “virtual deputy,” a “weirdo,” and “a cartoon sponge.” Zaitsev filed a defamation lawsuit but lost in the city court. Undeterred, he appealed to the regional court, which took a different view. In April 2025, the regional court found the blogger’s statements offensive and ordered Martyushov to pay the deputy 50,000 rubles in compensation. Zaitsev had initially demanded more but noted the judge was “lenient.” Martyushov planned to appeal the decision in a cassation court, but the deputy threatened to file a criminal complaint for “insulting a government official.” In September 2025, Martyushov himself was elected as a deputy in Ozersk, representing the nationalist LDPR party. He's known not only for his criticism of local authorities but also for organizing far-right “Russian Marches” in Chelyabinsk. In 2022, he traveled to Mariupol with the youth wing of the ruling United Russia party. 200,000 Rubles and 450 Hours of Community Service for Anti-Corruption Work Vladimir Vernyaev and Alexey Kromskoy are founders of the “Borisoglebsk Anti-Corruption Committee” in the Voronezh region. In October 2025, a court found them guilty of slander and insulting a government official. Vernyaev was also convicted of using a knowingly forged document. According to investigators, in April 2024, the activists allegedly produced and distributed flyers containing false claims about Dmitry Shiryayev, a regional lawmaker from United Russia. Vernyaev denied authoring the flyers. The court did not hear the defense’s arguments and barred other lawmakers and local residents from testifying. Kromskoy was fined 200,000 rubles, and Vernyaev was sentenced to 450 hours of community service. The activists say the case is politically motivated. They had repeatedly criticized Shiryayev’s performance and filed formal complaints over his failure to fulfill his duties as an elected official. In May 2023, they circulated flyers urging Shiryayev to resign, arguing he was “discrediting the chain of command.” In their social media posts, Vernyaev and Kromskoy accused Shiryayev of vacationing in the Maldives, demolishing a cultural heritage site to build his own house, skipping parliamentary sessions, and failing to pay 59 million rubles in taxes. They insist all their information was based on open sources. Stirred Up a “Nest of Vipers” In 2024, former head of the Kotovsky District in Russia’s Volgograd region, Sergey Chumakov, won a defamation lawsuit against local civic activist Alexander Kasyanov and was awarded 10,000 rubles in compensation for repeated insults posted in the local public group “Civic Oversight of Kotovo.” Chumakov believed that Kasyanov was behind the group and, along with school and kindergarten principals, filed several lawsuits against him totaling 300,000 rubles. Only one claim was upheld, the one filed by Chumakov himself, who took offense at a post featuring his photo with the caption: “Nest of vipers. And in the middle the chief jackal.” The same lawsuit also referenced a repost from another group called “Island of Freedom,” which claimed that Chumakov had appeared drunk at a public event. Notably, Chumakov did not take legal action against the original authors of that post. Alexander Kasyanov maintains that he never administered the “Civic Oversight of Kotovo” group and never insulted officials in his own posts. According to Kasyanov, Chumakov who previously served as a judge may have used personal connections to sway the court's decision in his favor. | 
