On 10 October 2023, Russian media reported that independent journalist Ruslan Totrov had been fined 20 thousand rubles on “incitement to hatred” charges (article 20.3.1 of Russia’s code of administrative offences) by a court in Vladikavkaz, in the region of North Ossetia. Totrov was fined for a social media post in which he described Russia as a “fascist regime”. The journalist was commenting on an incident on a flight from Moscow to Vladikavkaz in May, when a woman was detained after landing following denouncements by passengers who had reported her “odd behavior”, this behavior including reading a book in Ukrainian. Totrov currently lives abroad, and has been fined several times over the past year on charges of “discrediting” the Russian army.