Russian police arrested confectioner Anastasia Chernysheva of Moscow on Thursday and charged her with “discrediting the armed forces of Russia” by baking cakes with anti-war and pro-Ukraine messages, including cakes using the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
According to OVD-Info, a human rights and press freedom group in Russia, Chernysheva has been baking cakes with pacifist inscriptions since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. She posts photos of her confections on Instagram, where she has about 23,000 followers. Some of her confections are a bit salty, and not just in the salted caramel sense:
OVD-Info said the cake that got Chernysheva arrested bore the relatively anodyne message “No to War,” a popular slogan of the anti-war movement.
Chernysheva said she donates part of her income to charity but denied allegations that she sends financial support to the Ukrainian armed forces.
The authoritarian Russian government imposed a law soon after the invasion of Ukraine began that criminalizes “discrediting the Russian Armed Forces” or undermining the “special military operation,” Moscow’s preferred euphemism for its brutal war of aggression. The fine for violations can be as high as 50,000 rubles (about $625), plus up to five years in jail.
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