Putin signed a law on prison sentences of up to 15 years for “forgery” of mercenaries

Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner PMC, asked to protect the mercenaries from “discrediting” the authorities. The founder of the mercenary army that recruited POWs for the war complained that some media outlets, Telegram channels and bloggers “in an ugly way expose the defenders of Russia, the people who gave their lives for us, portraying them as villains and criminals.”

“Prohibit public actions aimed at discrediting volunteers, including former prisoners, <…> including banning negative publications and any criticism of SVO participants, as well as information about their past crimes,” Prigozhin suggested.