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A popular food blogger has become one of the first charged under Russia’s “fake news” law that threatens up to 15 years in prison for opposing the Kremlin’s stance on its war on Ukraine.
Ukraine-born foodie Nika Belotserkovskaya, 51, confirmed on social media that she had been charged under the draconian new law.
“Am I the first one to go?” she asked on the Instagram page that got her into trouble and still contains numerous anti-war messages.
“I have been officially declared a decent person!” she quipped to her more than 900,000 followers, insisting she could “handle” the threat.
Russia’s Investigative Committee confirmed Wednesday that Belotserkovskaya had been charged for telling “lies” about the war, along with an unidentified man and woman in the Tomsk Region of Siberia.
The blogger was accused of posting “deliberately false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to destroy cities and the civilian population of Ukraine, including children.”
Get the latest updates in the Russia-Ukraine conflict with The Post’s live coverage.
Her Instagram page still features images with the blue and yellow of Ukraine as well as reports reflecting the horrors of war.
Her home had been searched and restrictions placed on her movements, Agence France-Presse said of the writer who splits her time between Moscow and France, where she has a cooking school in Provence.
Russian authorities said they believe she and the other two charged are overseas, saying they plan to seek international warrants for their arrests.
Russia’s warmongering President Vladimir Putin signed into law on March 4 the threat of up to 15 years for people who publish “knowingly false information” about his so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine.
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied attacking civilians despite horrific, ever-mounting evidence.
Last week, children and pregnant women were among those killed in an airstrike on a maternity hospital, and a week later a theater where more than a thousand sought safety — and was clearly marked “CHILDREN” — was blown up, on Wednesday.
With Post wires
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