In St. Petersburg, police detained two minor local residents who are suspected of pouring foam on the doors of military correspondents Roman Saponkov and Dmitry Steshin. This was reported by the official representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Irina Volk in her Telegram channel.
The police department for the Primorsky district opened a criminal case for intentional damage to property (167 Criminal Code), and the police department for the Krasnoselsky district opened a criminal case for hooliganism (213 Criminal Code). Volk clarifies that the police are now trying to find out from the teenagers “from whom they received the task.”
Approximately 40 minutes before the publication of the news about the detention of teenagers, Volk reported that the head of the St. Petersburg Main Directorate, Roman Plugin, “took personal control of the progress of work to identify and detain persons who committed illegal actions in the places of residence of family members” of Saponkov’s military officers and Steshin.
State Duma Deputy Alexander Khinshtei called the incident “direct obstruction of their professional activities, an attempt at intimidation and revenge for a principled journalistic position.” In response to the news about the detention of teenagers, he wrote: “Thank God.”
In early November, a court in Moscow sent 28-year-old Leonid Gutarov, who came home to the military correspondent, under house arrest «Komsomolskaya Pravda» to Alexander Kots. The man is accused of violating privacy (Part 1 of Article 137 of the Criminal Code). According to investigators, Gutarov “for a fee” collected information about the military correspondent and passed it on to an accomplice, monitored his apartment and “under false pretenses” tried to obtain information about Kots from his wife.