Opa, popa again, or Why our bloggers "insult feelings" and go to court

The St. Petersburg police detained a 31-year-old blogger Irina Volkova. The girl in the summer of 2020 published a picture in which she poses in a thong at St. Isaac's Cathedral. They took it up, for some reason, only now. This case is not an isolated one - bloggers often arrange provocative photo shoots against the background of attractions, religious buildings and institutions. The law is harsh on them, but this only encourages the authors of such content.

The photo of Irina Volkova, near one of the most recognizable St. Petersburg attractions, did not cause a resonance after publication. The blogger's tattooed thighs and her ass in a thong collected the required number of likes and were forgotten. But a year later, the picture offended the feelings of believers, since St. Isaac's Cathedral is clearly visible behind Irina.

Now the girl faces Article 148, punishing "public actions expressing obvious disrespect for society and committed in order to offend the religious feelings of believers." According to her, Volkova "shines" a fine of up to 300 thousand rubles or imprisonment for up to 1 year. By the way, Irina has a real chance to be behind bars — there were precedents quite recently.

The other day in Moscow, the prosecutor asked for 10 months in prison for blogger Ruslan Bobiev and his girlfriend Anastasia Chistova. Young people were photographed on Red Square against the background of St. Basil's Cathedral. Yes, they did not just take a picture for memory, but imitated oral sex. At the same time, there was a jacket with the inscription "Police" on the Finish.

The photo was described as provocative and offensive. At first, they wanted to deport Bobiev to Tajikistan, of which he is a citizen, but then they changed their minds. Together with his girlfriend, he will go to the colony for almost a year. Of course, they will have to redeem themselves under the same Article 148.

So the young resident of Blagoveshchensk, who starred topless against the background of the church of Xenia of St. Petersburg, can be said to be lucky. She took her dose of negativity in the comments and condemnation in the press, but remained free. It remains to be hoped that she will not remember the picture later, as it happened with Volkova.

You can get problems with the law in Russia not only by insulting the feelings of believers. Law enforcement officers who were insulted by a resident of Yekaterinburg, Evgenia Nikiforovskaya, were also vulnerable. The model was photographed in a black thong and a jacket with the inscription "Provocation" against the background of the police station. She and her photographer friend received 3 days of arrest under the article "Petty hooliganism".

This is not the first such photo shoot of a blogger. Before that, she bared her buttocks on the porch of the building of the legislative assembly of the region, but for some reason it did not hurt anyone. Nikiforovskaya's arrest deeply angered Moscow activist Alina Ivanova, who repeated Evgenia's action at the police station on the Arbat. The ass shyly shown by the girl achieved the goal and outraged the public.

In an interview with the press, the girl said that she lives in a free secular country where sharia law does not apply. She is completely right, but part 1 of Article 20.1 of the Administrative Code "Petty hooliganism" acts like that, and soon Ivanov was already being processed in the same Arbat department she had insulted.

Why do Russian bloggers take such pictures, risk being behind bars? Such actions are not uncommon abroad and almost always have a great resonance. Such performances with us are nothing more than an attempt to reach out to the stars of the global hype, such as Marisa Papen or Milo Moiret.

Unfortunately, the level of our fans to shock is far from these ladies, since they can offer nothing but vulgarity. Therefore, at best they look stupid, and at worst they look pathetic. And Russia is not Italy or even the Czech Republic, and an innocent photo shoot from the point of view of a European will definitely offend someone.