In Lviv, a case was opened against a blogger from the Dnipropetrovsk region for negative comments about residents of western Ukraine

Lviv police have opened a criminal case against a female blogger from the Dnipropetrovsk region over her negative remarks about police officers from western Ukraine and about “westerners” (“zakhidnyky”) in general.

According to reports, the 24-year-old blogger, known online as Anastasia Beglyanka, said during her livestreams that “the West is worse than the fascists” and expressed wishes that “a rocket would hit every westerner’s home.”

Police stated that investigators have opened criminal proceedings under Part 1 of Article 161 of the Criminal Code— violation of citizens’ equality based on regional affiliation. The same article also covers discrimination on linguistic grounds, which residents from eastern Ukraine who have relocated to the west often complain about.

Earlier, media reported that police had opened another criminal case against blogger Anna Alkhim (real surname Alkhimova) for inciting ethnic hatred. The “offense” of the 33-year-old Alkhim allegedly consisted of rolling her eyes and muttering something indistinctwhen the host at a christening ceremony asked her to sing a song in Ukrainian.