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Single Mother Stands Trial in Russia for Posting Pictures About Ukraine

The woman, who works as a store assistant, denied any wrongdoing.

A woman from Russia's Urals city of Yekaterinburg is standing trial for sharing pictures relating to the conflict in eastern Ukraine on the Russian social network VKontakte, news reports said Wednesday.

Yekaterina Vologzheninova, 46, is a single mother, according to the Znak.com news website. She has been charged with inciting hatred or animosity toward a social group and faces a fine, community service or up to four years in prison.

Last year Vologzheninova reposted several pictures on VKontakte that the local branch of the Federal Security Service (FSB) considered extremist.

One of them depicted Russian President Vladimir Putin staring at a map with a knife in his hand, while another showed a woman with a rifle calling for “death to the Moscow occupiers” in eastern Ukraine. A third said “volunteers from Russia” shouldn't go to Ukraine because its “morgues are full,” Znak.com reported.

The woman, who works as a store assistant, denied any wrongdoing.

“I consider the charges groundless. I was exploring materials about the situation in Ukraine that are distributed on the social network VKontakte. … These materials are not extremist, they are not banned by anyone, so I don't think I did anything wrong,” she was cited by Znak.com as saying last week, when the trial commenced.

Despite the fact that the court hasn't yet reached a verdict, Vologzheninova's credit card has already been blocked by Rosfinmonitoring, the state financial watchdog, Znak.com reported. The decision was based on a law that outlaws financing terrorists, the report said.

On Tuesday a hearing into the case was postponed until Nov. 10 due to witnesses for the prosecution not showing up, Znak.com reported.

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