The court fined Alexander Lependin, a municipal councilor from Kaluga, for not standing to the national anthem of Russia. According to Lependin, he stayed in his seat because his feet were badly hurting. The court’s decision was reported on March 17 by Telegram channel "ES! Yevgeny Serkin's channel."
The Kaluga court imposed a fine of 5,000 rubles ($65) on Alexander Lependin, a municipal councilor from Kaluga, for violating the official regulation regarding state symbols. The district council member did not stand for the national anthem that was played before the district head’s report. His action caused a "big scandal" according to the municipality's information center. Lependin apologized in the comments section of the post about the incident.
In an interview with the 7x7 media, Lependin said that no one in the hall expressed any discontent with his behavior. United Russia's Vera Rytova is believed to have made the "unreasonable post" about him. Lependin had sore feet after exercising, but he still stood up to honor the memory of the dead. On March 15, at a meeting of the commission on ethics, Lependin was given a draft notice to the military enlistment office for verification of his personal data.
On his VKontakte page, Lependin posted a video about propaganda in the media, the cancellation of concerts by Splin, a band known for their anti-war position, and lyrics from the song "I will come back" about a tyrant who started a war. His status reads: "I can't watch politics on TV <...>.”
In the Samara region, local legislature member Mikhail Abdalkin was also punished for disrespecting authorities. On March 16, a court in Samara fined him 150,000 rubles ($1,950) for watching Vladimir Putin's address to the National Assembly with noodles on his ears (an indication that the speaker is lying).
