A Russian stand-up comedian, Artemy Ostanin, has been sentenced to nearly six years in a penal colony for a joke about a war veteran, marking a significant moment in the ongoing suppression of dissent against Russia’s actions in Ukraine. This conviction exemplifies the wider campaign against public figures challenging the official narrative.
Ostanin, who is based in Moscow, made headlines after a stand-up routine where he humorously referred to a disabled ex-soldier he encountered on the metro as a “legless skater.” The performance stirred backlash as pro-Kremlin individuals and media disseminated the joke online, branding it as an insult to Russian soldiers wounded in the Ukrainian conflict.
A Moscow court found Ostanin guilty of inciting hatred and offending religious beliefs with a separate joke concerning religion. Judge Olesya Mendeleyeva announced the punishment: five years and nine months in a general regime penal colony, as reported by the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
Despite his conviction, Ostanin, who is 29 years old, insisted that his joke was not intended to target veterans of the war — which Russia refers to as the “special military operation.” In his final court statement, reported by the independent SOTA media outlet, he expressed hope that others would avoid experiencing the severe legal challenges he faced.
“I hope no one ever finds themselves in the same situation of brutal legal abuse that I did,” Ostanin remarked.
The judge who sentenced Ostanin had previously been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in December 2024 for her involvement in what was seen as the “arbitrary detention” of Moscow city councilor Alexei Gorinov, due to his opposition to the Ukrainian war.
Following his March 2025 arrest over the controversial performance, Ostanin was included on Moscow’s list of terrorists and extremists. Such labels are frequently utilized in Russia to quash dissent and confront those opposing the government.
Since the onset of its military offensive in Ukraine in 2022, Russia has intensified its efforts to suppress critics. Cases like that of Diana Loginova, a street musician, who faced jail time for anti-war performances, and a doctor convicted for speaking against the war in front of a patient have spotlighted the crackdown. The list also includes Susana Jamaladinova, a Ukrainian singer, declared wanted for similar offenses, and artist Sasha Skochilenko, sentenced for expressing anti-war sentiments via supermarket price tags.
Furthermore, this aggressive stance on dissent was highlighted in April 2023, when journalist and opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza received a 25-year prison sentence on charges of treason for his openly critical views on Russia’s war in Ukraine.