Crimea beauty queen fined over song

The Russian authorities in Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, have fined a local beauty queen for singing a Ukrainian song.

Olga Valeyeva was accused of discrediting Russia's military and promoting extremist symbols after a video showed her singing Red Viburnum, BBC News reported on October 5.

The 19th Century military march is popular among Ukrainian nationalists.

Valeyeva, who said she had been unaware of the song's associations, was fined 40,000 roubles (£609; $684).

A second woman who had sung the song along with her was given 10 days in jail.

Crimea's Russian-installed interior ministry posted a video where the two women publicly apologise for singing the song.

Valeyeva, 34, won the "Mrs Beauty Queen - Crimea 2022" contest held in Sevastopol at the end of May, causing something of a sensation on social media with her tattoos.

Russian police arrested the two women after they appeared in a video on social media singing Red Viburnum.

"I just sang a Ukrainian song without any deeper meanings," Valeyeva was quoted as saying by Russian media.

Red Viburnum has become so associated with Ukrainian patriotism that a version of it was recorded by members of the British rock band Pink Floyd earlier this year in a show of support for Ukrainians resisting the Russian invasion.

The Ukrainian government, whose troops have been steadily advancing against Russian forces, has vowed to regain all of the country's lost territory including Crimea. While the peninsula lies far behind the front line, the Russian authorities there were rattled by a series of surprise attacks on military facilities during the summer.