Kabarda–Balkaria woman charged after criticising Chechen Akhmat commander Alaudinov
Kabarda–Balkaria resident Oksana Kobeleva has been charged with discrediting the Russian Army after she criticised Chechen Akhmat commander Apti Alaudinov on her Telegram channel.
Kobeleva and her husband, the authors behind the pro-government Telegram channel Okhranota v vatnike, were both detained on Wednesday by officers from the Centre for Combating Extremism — it is unclear whether a case will be opened against Kobeleva’s husband as well. Discrediting the Russian Army has been considered an administrative or criminal offence since March 2022, shortly after Russia began its full-scale war in Ukraine.
The Telegram channel OmTV, which is listed on Russia’s Foreign Agents registry, noted that this case was ‘yet another toad-viper in the patriot terrarium’.
‘The pretext, it seems, was sacrilege: she dared to criticise General “Akhmat” Apti Alaudinov, a Kremlin favourite’, OmTV wrote, noting that just days prior, Kobeleva had ‘menacingly called for “standing shoulder to shoulder with the Ministry of Defence against foreign agents” ’.
‘Now she stands “shoulder to shoulder” with her husband — by the prison latrine. The toad bit the viper, and the viper complained to the FSB. How romantic!’.
It is unclear what exactly Kobeleva wrote — according to Caucasian Knot, all critical posts related to Alaudinov have been deleted. However, the outlet noted that up until 20 October, the channel had published a number of ‘laudatory posts’ about Akhmat as well as reposting things from Alaudinov’s channel.
While Alaudinov has yet to directly comment on Kobeleva’s case, he has reposted several other Telegram commentators, including one who claimed Kobeleva was a former supporter of now-deceased Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny.
Other posts shared by Alaudinov claimed he was being subjected to ‘highly suspicious avalanche of negativity from female bloggers’.
‘Women can be cunning and treacherous. This doesn’t do them any credit, and at best, it explains how the myths about succubi and other demons came to be’, the Telegram channel SHAMA wrote.
Similarly, Telegram user Roman Saponkov wrote that ‘provacateurs’ had found the ‘perfect way to launch media attacks on the military and sow discord in society’.
‘The method is simple: put all sorts of nasty things of varying degrees of frankness into the mouths of “girls” ’. Saponkov wrote, claiming that Russia was witnessing ‘the emergence of a dangerous model whereby “poor girls” in the media can launch blatant attacks on anyone and then hide behind the fact that they’re “poor girls” ’.
In addition to Kobeleva’s alleged negative statements, Alaudinov has recently faced criticism from Marina Akhmedova, a member of the Russian Presidential Council for Human Rights and Civil Society Development.
On 4 November, Akhmedova commented on a video posted by Alaudinov showing a young girl wearing a military-style dress reading out a poem dedicated to Alaudinov.
‘Right now, another wave of criticism is spreading online against Apti Alautdinov, the most talkative general, who, it seems to me, can no longer live without attention of any kind’, Akhmedova wrote.
She emphasised that on National Unity Day, Alaudinov had posted this video, ‘presumably of a Russian girl reciting Islamic messages’, to which many accused him of ‘pure provocation’.
‘But I listened to the girl’s poem, and another question arose: who is truly greater — the Almighty or Apti Alautdinov?’.
In response, Chechen Human Rights Commissioner Mansur Soltaev called for Akhmedova to publicly apologise for her remarks, stating that her words ‘unacceptable and unfair’.
‘Statements of this kind not only escalate the situation but essentially stab in the back of our officers, generals, and soldiers who honorably defend the Motherland […] Moreover, such statements could fall under the article on discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation’, Soltaev wrote on Telegram.
‘I do not wish to insult Marina or demean her, but I believe that as a public figure, she has a responsibility to exercise particular caution in such matters. It would be truly wise if Marina apologised for her words to a combat general, a Hero of Russia, and a true defender of our state’, he concluded.
Elizaveta Chukharova
