Russian farmer Nikolay Mukhin, who was fined for attempting to shoot down a Ukrainian drone with his shotgun, has told RT that his actions were motivated by love for his motherland.

The 66-year-old vowed to appeal the court’s decision, and the Volgograd Region prosecutor’s office is now siding with him amid a public outcry.

The incident, which happened in early July, resulted in the man being slapped with a 40,000 ruble ($480) fine for discharging a firearm in an unauthorized place, as well as the confiscation of his shotgun. Mukhin appealed to the district court, but the judge upheld the penalty, arguing that the man’s actions could have endangered other people’s lives.

Speaking to RT on Tuesday, Mukhin recounted how on the night of July 7 he woke up to the roar of drones flying over his house. The farmer called the police, took his shotgun and ventured outside.
According to Mukhin, he initially intended to merely report the UAV sighting to the authorities, but fired his shotgun as a second drone appeared in sight in an attempt to shoot it down.

With the call on speaker all along, the police operator asked the man if it was he who fired the shots and whether he had a gun license, which the farmer did.

Mukhin told RT that he missed the drone, as it was flying too high.

In court, the farmer’s defense attorney insisted that the defendant was acting based on justified concern for “public security and the lives of citizens,” concluding that the potential damage from the UAV’s fall would have been less grave than if it had reached its target.

Nevertheless, the judge took issue with this line of reasoning.

Mukhin described the fine as an “overly harsh punishment,” explaining to RT that “I love Russia and defend it as best I can.”

In a post on her Telegram channel on Wednesday, RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan took the farmer’s side, saying that she would pay his fine.

“Dear comrades in authority, please, sort this out. We have no rules as to what should be done in such situations. It means that we need to come up with some,” she wrote.

In a follow-up post on Thursday, Simonyan said that Volgograd Region’s prosecutor’s office has now contested Mukhin’s fine, arguing that he was acting under exceptional circumstances, and should thus be exonerated.

Ukraine has intensified its long-range attacks on civilian infrastructure in Russia in recent months amid battlefield setbacks, which Moscow has characterized as terrorist attacks.
Russia has responded with its own missile and drone strikes against Ukraine’s military-industrial facilities, logistics centers and infrastructure supporting its armed forces.

UPDATE:

Later on Thursday, the Volgograd Regional Court overturned the original decision, nullifying the fine and ordering that the impounded shotgun be returned to Mukhin, as reported by TASS. The judge reportedly concurred with the prosecutor’s office in that the farmer was acting under exceptional circumstances.