MOSCOW -- A court in Moscow has impounded the property of a popular food blogger and magazine founder who is wanted in Russia over her online posts about Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
The Basmanny district court ruled on June 24 to impound Veronika Belotserkovskaya's apartment and parking site, as well as an unspecified number of houses, an apartment, and land in the city of St. Petersburg.
The court said the seizures were necessary to ensure compensation for any possible fines she will be ordered to pay if convicted in a case launched against her on charge of discrediting Russia's armed forces.
Belotserkovskaya, who founded the St. Petersburg magazine and website Sobaka, currently lives in France.
Last month, Russian authorities added her to the wanted list and issued an arrest warrant for her.
In March, Russia's Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against the Ukrainian-born Belotserkovskaya, who blogs under the name Belonika, for allegedly spreading false news about the Russian military on her Instagram account, which has almost 950,000 subscribers.
She was accused of publishing several Instagram posts containing "deliberately false information about the armed forces of the Russian Federation's destruction of cities and civilians in Ukraine, including children, during a special military operation."
Some of the posts cited the coverage of the war by Western news agencies and media outlets.
Russia's media regulator, Roskomnadzor, has strictly limited access to information about the war in Ukraine launched by Russia on February 24 and directed media to describe events in Ukraine a "special military operation" and not a war or an invasion.
Following the opening of the criminal case against her in March, Belotserkovskaya transferred ownership of Sobaka to its employees.