MOSCOW, January 26. /TASS/. The Russian Investigative Committee has charged in absentia Pyotr Verzilov, the publisher of Mediazona, who has been designated as a foreign agent in Russia, with spreading false reports about the Russian military, a law enforcement official told TASS on Thursday.
"Verzilov has been charged in absentia with disseminating inaccurate information about the Russian armed forces over his posts about the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine," the official said.
The case against him was filed following two tweets and two posts on Instagram (banned in Russia as it’s owned by Meta Corporation, which is designated as extremist in Russia) about the events in Bucha. The case states that Verzilov "created a real risk of shaping a false notion among citizens about the aims and objectives of the special military operation in Ukraine."
The Mediazona founder was earlier put on a list of wanted persons in a case of concealing the second citizenship. According to investigators, he didn’t submit a notice that he has a Canadian passport.
Pyotr Verzilov is the publisher of the online publication Mediazona (designated in Russia as a foreign agent news media organization).