A court in Adygea has fined a resident of Anapa ₽50,000 ($620) for hanging a pig’s head on the fence of a mosque in the village of Kozet in September 2025. The fine was a significantly more lenient punishment than the maximum fine of ₽500,000 ($6,200) or imprisonment often imposed in such cases.
The unidentified 43-year-old man was found guilty of offending religious beliefs and was initially ordered to pay a ₽60,000 ($750) as punishment. The Magistrate’s Court in the Takhtamukay district reduced the fine to $620, taking into account the time he already spent in detention.
The maximum fine for this charge can reach ₽500,000 ($6,200), community service, or one year’s imprisonment.
He was detained in his home in Anapa, Krasnodar region around 24 hours after hanging the pig’s head on the fence of the mosque in mid-September. Anapa is located 157 kilometres away from the village in Adygea.
Surveillance footage cited by local media shows the man approaching the mosque in the dark, placing the pig’s head on the fence, stepping back, and filming or photographing the scene on his phone before fleeing the scene.
In footage purportedly taken from his phone, the man can be heard saying: ‘Russia for Russians’.
According to figures from 2024, the village of Kozet has a population of 3,400, including Muslim Circassians, Russians, and Armenians, according to Russia’s Federal Statistics Service.
According to the Statistics Service, Adyghes or Circassians, the titular indigenous people of Adygea, only constitute around 20% of the republic’s population. A 2010 census has revealed that Muslims made up 27% of the republic’s population, with most of them being Circassian.
Some pro-government commentators attempted to frame the incident as a possible act of foreign sabotage.
Among them was Marina Akhmedova, a member of Russia’s Presidential Human Rights Council, who claimed that such acts carried the ‘[Ukrainian Security Service’s] signature’.
Elizaveta Chukharova
