According to the prosecution, Nikita Zhuravel, nineteen, a resident of Volgograd, set fire to the Quran in front of the city’s Cathedral Mosque. Zhuravel filmed the process, too. The man was arrested in May 2023 and charged with, among other things, “offending the religious feelings of believers.” The defendant did not deny guilt and, in the strangest of explanations, pointed out that Ukrainian special services contacted him and asked him to do what he did in exchange for 10,000 rubles (about $100). Despite this set up, this is not a story of freedom of expression clashing with religious sensibilities. This...