A 20-year-old Russian man was fined 3,000 rubles for searching on Google for information about the Azov Brigade, considered a terrorist organization in Russia.

Sergei Glukhikh, a 20-year-old Russian, was fined 3,000 rubles (approximately 38 dollars) for searching Google for the term 'Azov' on September 28. This was a violation of a law signed by President Vladimir Putin, which imposes fines for searching for extremist materials online. Glukhikh was arrested after a police officer noticed his search on a bus. Although he was initially charged with searching for information about the Azov Brigade and the Russian Volunteer Corps, his case was reexamined due to confusions related to the database of extremist materials. In the end, he was only tried for searching for information about the Azov Brigade, a far-right paramilitary unit in Ukraine, considered a terrorist organization by the Supreme Court of Russia.

Glukhikh, who pleaded not guilty, was released from custody and was not present at the sentencing. Moscow uses the connection of the Azov Brigade with extremism to justify its actions in Ukraine, calling its operation a 'denazification.'