State Duma deputy from United Russia, Maria Butina, who served six months in an American prison, proposed jailing parents of children who would use VPN if YouTube was blocked. She spoke about this while answering a question live with Vladimir Solovyov on the Russia 1 channel.
At first, the presenters discussed what would happen if YouTube was turned off, and whether children would read books more often because of this. Solovyov suggested that the children would not read anyway and would “install a VPN”.
Butina said that if adults are not able to limit their children and raise them, then "we do not exist." After that, Solovyov asked if adults in Yekaterinburg were able to educate students who said they were “against the letter Z,” and asked another question, to which Butina answered in the affirmative:
“Are you suggesting that their parents be imprisoned?”
– Of course.
In early June, it became known that Russia was taking measures to limit the operation of VPN services, as the means of bypassing blocking were recognized as a threat.
Before starting to work in the State Duma, Butina served several months in a US prison. She was detained in the summer of 2018 in the United States on charges of illegally promoting Russian interests and working as a foreign agent without registration. According to the prosecution, Butina tried to establish ties with American conservatives. She pleaded guilty and cooperated with the investigation. In April 2019, the court sentenced her to 18 months in prison; in October 2019, Butina returned to Russia, she was released for deportation. The Insider wrote about her in the materials “Not just Maria: how the deputy chairman of the Central Bank Torshin sent an assistant to Trump’s headquarters and what he did in the Taganskaya organized criminal group”, as well as “Butina is on trial. What did Torshin’s assistant, who was arrested in the USA, confess and what else can she tell about?