A Russian official was dismissed after complimenting Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on social media, it was reported.
Denis Kortunov, public adviser to the governor of the Samara region, was removed from his position after reposting an interview with the Ukrainian president on Facebook and adding "Zelenskyy is tough," reported CityTraffic, which said it received the information from the press service of the regional government.
The actual word used by Kortunov is Russian slang for "tough."
"The current situation has shown a number of people – well-known and professional – from the other side. At the moment, Denis Kortunov has been deprived of the status of a public adviser to the head of the region," the government said, CityTraffic reported.
State Duma deputy Alexander Khinshtein had commented on Kortunov's post.
"I hope that after such posts that 'Zelenskyy is tough,' Denis Kortunov will be immediately dismissed from the post of public adviser to the governor of the Samara region on IT," Khinshtein wrote.
The Prosecutor General's Office of Russia promised to give "a fundamental legal assessment of the content of the published statements and the fact of their placement," Kacnapob reported.
Kortunov was appointed as a volunteer IT project adviser in 2017.
The interview shared by Kortunov was conducted by Russian reporters.
Russia's communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, told Russian media to refrain from reporting on the interview and said it had started a probe into the outlets that interviewed the Ukrainian leader.
In the interview, Zelenskyy said that adopting a neutral status would "take years" because it must be ratified by parliament, and Ukraine fighting to reclaim the Donbas region and Crimea would cause World War III and thus was not feasible.
He also ripped into France and President Emmanuel Macron for not providing Ukraine military support because they're "afraid of Russia."
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