The irony is that Natalya Sharina was initially seen as sympathetic to the Kremlin.

It took judge Elena Gudoshnikova nearly two hours to deliver her verdict to the librarian in the dock, for crimes ranging from “humiliating human dignity” to embezzling public funds. But in essence, she was convicting Natalya Sharina, head of Moscow’s State Library for Ukrainian literature, for keeping books.

No less than 25 books considered to be “extremist literature” had been found on the shelves, Gudoshnikova declared, listing the offending titles one by one to the packed Moscow courtroom, before handing down a four-year suspended prison sentence.

Sharina is the latest Russian to be caught up in a Kafka-esque legal tangle involving Ukrainian content. A growing number of people labelled as sympathetic to Ukraine in their social media posts, writing or even poetry are landing up in Russian courts, charged with “extremism” or “inciting hatred.”