Russian Man Fined for Sharing Zelensky Dream on Instagram: 'This Is Idiocy'

A Russian man has been fined for sharing on his Instagram account a dream that he said he had about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ivan Losev, a 26-year-old resident of the city of Chita in Russia's far-eastern Zabaykalsky region, was fined 30,000 rubles ($477) under a stringent law that cracks down on dissent over the war in Ukraine.

The measure, passed by Russia's parliament in March, imposes jail terms of up to 15 years for intentionally spreading "fake news" about the Russian army.

He was found guilty on December 8 by the Central District Court of Chita, local news outlet Sibir.Realii reported.

Losev recounted his dream on his social-media account, and then made references to the partial mobilization order in Russia that was announced in September.

"Last night, I dreamed about being mobilized and brought to some kind of a boot camp. Suddenly, AFU (Armed Forces of Ukraine) fighters led by Zelensky burst in, rounded everyone up, and were about to execute us by firing squad," Losev posted on Instagram, unaware that officers from Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) were monitoring his page.

Losev added: "At this moment, Zelensky walks past me and says: 'Ah, I've seen your stories on Instagram. Glory to Ukraine!' I reply: 'Glory to the heroes!' Zelensky pats me on the shoulder approvingly and says: 'Let this one go, and execute everyone else.'

"So there we are, me and him, standing side by side, watching, and I tell him: 'Can I get a selfie with you for my Instagram?' Zelensky says: 'Sure,'" he wrote.

Losev said authorities called him on his work phone and revealed, "there is reason to believe that you are engaged in discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation." The authorities then suggested that he go to his local police department.

Losev has blasted the case against him as "idiocy."

"I struggle to imagine how a Zabaikalsk FSB officer in his forties re-typed my post with a straight face to add it to the case file. The thought is ridiculous!"

Losev told Sibir.Realii that he has always loved to "share all sorts of nonsense" on his Instagram page.

"[Russian President Vladimir] Putin announced mobilization, there was stress everywhere, that they might come for you, and then I had such a dream, I remembered it in detail," Losev said.

"I thought: well, at least something funny, funny in the whole agenda. My subscribers laughed, said it was a cool dream. I didn't even think that it [would attract the attention of the FSB]."

Losev told the news outlet that he has come to terms that he may eventually be imprisoned for voicing his thoughts about the war, which began after Putin invaded Ukraine on February 24.

"It seems to me that the war is about to end and end not in favor of Russia. I am sure that Ukraine will win. As soon as Ukraine wins, all the people who are now in prison [for "fakes" about the army], they will either be released or somehow decriminalized. And we will not be ashamed to look into the eyes of the world community, the Ukrainians, or ourselves," Losev added.

The Kremlin has used the March law to crack down on those who veer away from Putin's narrative of the war.

Newsweek has reached out to Russia's foreign ministry for comment.

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