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The Russian dictatorship is already making its peculiar view of respect for Christianity very clear with the hundreds of Russian attacks on churches in Ukraine<\/a>. On the other hand, and as I pointed out here five years ago, in 2021, Putin criminalized in Russia any attempt to equate nazism with communism<\/a>, through a law designed to cover up Soviet crimes<\/strong>. As you may have read in Counting Stars, in 2022 Russian opposition figure Leonid Gozman was sentenced to 15 days in prison for equating Hitler with Stalin<\/a> under that law, in a message published by Gozman before the law was passed.<\/p>\n The Russian dictator's attempt to criminalize criticism of communism and the USSR<\/strong> can be explained, to a large extent, by the fact that for 15 years Putin was an intelligence officer with the KGB<\/a>, the sinister Soviet political police. Likewise, in June 2017, Putin said that demonizing the dictator and genocidal Stalin is \"a way of attacking the Soviet Union and Russia\"<\/em><\/a>. A few months later, in January 2018, Putin defended communism by equating it with Christianity<\/a> and compared the mummy of the communist dictator Lenin to the relics of saints.<\/p>\n Yesterday, a new victim of that totalitarian law imposed by Putin<\/strong> came to light, via a report published by OVD-Info<\/a>, a Russian news site run by the NGO Memorial, which investigated and exposed the war crimes of the Soviet communist dictatorship and was outlawed by the Russian dictatorship in late 2021. OVD-Info has reported the death in prison of Christian blogger Khristolyub Vegan<\/a> at Penitentiary Colony No. 2 (IK-2) in Voronezh, a concentration camp where Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny<\/a> was also imprisoned, having died in prison on February 16, 2024. OVD-Info learned of Vegan\u2019s death from his father:<\/strong><\/p>\n \"His father told OVD-Info about the incident. Today, a security officer from IK-2 phoned the man to inform him that Khristolyub had died.<\/strong> The FSIN employee asked him to come on Monday, 20 April, to collect his son\u2019s body. He refused to tell him the cause and circumstances of Khristolyub\u2019s death.<\/strong>\"<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n On February 5, 2025, OVH-Info reported on Vegan's conviction<\/a>: \"The Voronezh Regional Court sentenced Christian preacher Khristolyub Vegan to three years in prison for the crimes of insulting believers<\/strong> (Article 148, Section 1, of the Criminal Code) and rehabilitating Nazism<\/strong> (Article 354.1, Section c), Sections 2 and 4, of the Criminal Code).\"<\/em> Vegan reported on the conviction that same day on his Telegram channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n On his website, christolube.ru<\/a>, Khristolyub Vegan described itself as follows: \u201cA lover of Christ imprisoned for preaching the Truth and denouncing the crimes of sinners.\"<\/em> <\/strong> Furthermore, he denounced \u201cmy unjust imprisonment for verbal crimes I did not commit\u201d<\/em>. On that website, he recounted in detail all the persecution he suffered at the hands of Putin\u2019s dictatorship<\/a>, until he was finally sent to prison. Last year, OVH-Info explained the reality behind the accusations against Vegan:<\/a><\/p>\n \"The charge of offending religious sentiments stems from two videos the preacher made about Islam.<\/strong> In these videos, published in July and December 2022, he used vulgar language to criticize the faith and the Quran.\"<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n As for the accusation of \u201crehabilitating Nazism,\u201d what Vegan actually did was criticize Stalin and denounce Soviet crimes. <\/strong> In this regard, OVH-Info notes<\/a>:<\/p>\n \"The investigation also examined the preacher's statements, in which he compared Stalin to Hitler, questioned the liberating nature of the Soviet Army's actions, and criticized the glorification of Soviet soldiers<\/strong>, describing them as 'statements that insult the memory of the defenders of the Motherland and degrade the honor and dignity of a veteran of the Great Patriotic War.' In this video, Vegan called them \u2018thieves and rapists\u2019.\"<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n In addition, another reason why Vegan was persecuted in Russia was his opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine<\/strong>, as OVH-Info points out:<\/p>\n \"On his YouTube channel, Vegan also posted videos opposing the war in Ukraine, criticizing Russian authorities and, in particular, Vladimir Putin. <\/strong> In his closing statement, Vegan noted that over the past three years he had \u201cused all his resources, strength, means, and opportunities to stop the Russian-Ukrainian war\u201d and accused the prosecutor of attempting to silence him by prohibiting him from managing online resources. He stated that he had no intention of complying with such a ban<\/strong>.\"<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n![](\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55214326727_310ed8945c_b.jpg\")
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