The newly-crowned winner of the Miss Crimea beauty pageant has been fined by Russian authorities for singing a patriotic Ukrainian song.
Olga Valeyeva and a friend were charged with “discrediting” the Russian armed forces amid the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine after they appeared in a video posted to Instagram singing “Chervona Kalyna,” The Moscow Times reported.
They also were accused of “promoting extremist symbols” for singing the anthem of Ukrainian resistance.
Valeyeva was fined 40,000 – the equivalent of $677 – and her friend was sentenced to 10 days behind bars for the performance, according to the news outlet.
The two women reportedly apologized later in a video posted on the Crimean Interior Ministry’s Telegram channel.
Six other people were recently arrested or fined for playing “Chervona Kalyna” at a wedding reception in the Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, The Moscow Times said.
Sergei Aksyonov, the Kremlin-appointed regional head on the annexed peninsula, has warned people against “chanting pro-Ukrainian slogans” and “singing nationalist songs,” according to the report.
