Several Russian regions are now holding local residents accountable for publishing information online regarding the aftermath of Ukrainian drone strikes. This action follows reports of administrative penalties issued to individuals for disseminating such information.

The number of regions enforcing these measures has reached twelve. Fines have already been levied against some journalists and social media users in the Kaluga and Tula regions. Kalmykia and the Tver region were recently added to the list.

In the Kaluga region, authorities have sent 42 reports to the courts regarding violations of the regional operational headquarters’ ban on disseminating information about the consequences of drone crashes. The Tula region has filed one report.

The violations include incidents involving media outlets, local residents filming and distributing footage of drone impacts, and comments made on social networks. Reports have also been filed against administrators or owners of Telegram channels and VKontakte public pages, as well as authors of personal pages.

The introduction of administrative liability for publishing information about drone strikes began earlier this year in individual regions of Russia. The Leningrad and Kursk regions were the first to introduce such measures, followed by St. Petersburg, and the Kaluga, Tula, Volgograd, and Astrakhan regions.

While some regions, such as Ryazan and Rostov, have established fines, they have not yet implemented a ban. Other regions have a ban in effect but have not yet assigned any punishment. Authorities in the Kursk region believe that residents are being cautious with publications and avoiding the distribution of photos and videos that could be used to determine the locations of military equipment and special facilities.

The St. Petersburg Security Committee reported no violations since the ban was implemented, noting that UAVs primarily target the Leningrad region, which has a higher concentration of industrial enterprises. The Ivanovo government stated that they have not yet had the opportunity to apply the new rule in practice.

A proposal to punish Russians for publishing any military information, including data on troop deployments and photos of air defense missile trajectories, was considered but not adopted at the federal level. The initiative was instead transferred to the regions.