Russian court заочно sentenced blogger Dud to a penal colony for violating "foreign agent" requirements

In Russia, a real sentence was passed in absentia on blogger Yuriy Dud, who had previously been declared a "foreign agent." This was reported by "Mediazona", according to UNN.

Details

The reason was the fines previously imposed on Dud for publications without a "foreign agent" label, as well as three social media posts in May 2025.

The judge found Dud guilty in absentia and sentenced him to 1 year and 10 months in a general regime penal colony in a case concerning violations of requirements for "foreign agents." The prosecutor demanded the same sentence, asking to recognize "the motive of political hatred" as an aggravating circumstance.

At the same time, the blogger's lawyer asked to close the case due to its insignificance and noted that Dud's posts concerned "everyday issues," and therefore, one cannot speak of political hatred.

Context

Yuriy Dud is a well-known journalist, blogger, and presenter in Russia. He is the author of the YouTube channel "vDud", where he publishes interviews with famous personalities, as well as documentaries. As of July 2025, the channel had 10.3 million subscribers and 2.351 billion views.

In 2022, Dud condemned the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine and left Russia. The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation included Dud in the register of "media - foreign agents."

Recall

Earlier, UNN reported that in Russia, pro-government political scientist Sergey Markov was included in the list of "foreign agents". The probable reason is his statement, in which he virtually admitted Russia's responsibility for shooting down an Azerbaijani plane by Russian air defense forces on December 25, 2024.