An elderly woman is brutally dragged out of the bus in Moscow after making critical comments about the war in Ukraine and about Vladimir Putin (symbolic image). Image: AP
politics
Anyone who doubts the size of the Russian Empire will be thrown off the bus. No matter how old the person is – even pensioners are forcibly thrown out. This is shown in a video that is currently circulating on social networks.
Pensioner criticizes war in Ukraine and Putin
A pensioner sits in a crowded bus in the Moscow suburb of Dolgoprudny. She leads a heated discussion about the war in Ukraine. The elderly lady criticizes Putin’s army. He let the troops fight in rubber boots. “Wellies, armor, axes – everything is stolen,” she says.
Criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin is dangerous in Russia. Image: Pool Sputnik Kremlin / Aleksey Babushkin
She continues to mock Russia under Putin and tells the fellow travelers: “This is our empire! Empire? An empire supported on stools”.
Passengers insult the Russian
Then a passenger accused that the Russian from the Ukraine come from Again and again, passengers refer to the older woman as “Hohol” and “Banderistin” – derogatory terms for Ukrainians.
“Hohol” is derived from “Khokhol” and roughly means a clump of stalks of grain. As a term for Ukrainians, it may have originally referred to the tufts of hair worn by the Cossacks, the so-called chub. The followers of the former Ukrainian National Socialist and partisan leader Stepan Bandera were called “Banderists”. Bandera was a staunch fascist and anti-Semite.
Man throws the elderly woman brutally from the bus
The Russian laughs at the allegations and insists that they don’t relationship have to Ukraine – not even acquaintances. A male passenger then approached the Putin critic, brutally dragged her from her seat and dragged her to the door.
Many Russians support the war in Ukraine and support Vladimir Putin. Image: AP / Libkos
Witnesses watch impassively
Frightening: fellow passengers do not intervene to protect the woman. The incident sparked a flurry of comments online, with many siding with the pensioner. “What a tragic ordeal an old woman went throughby telling the truth,” writes a YouTube user under the video. “Human rights and freedom of speech are luxuries in an authoritarian country,” says another user.
Another user writes that the man who dragged the elderly lady off the bus, his “heroism” in the next mobilization at the front may prove.
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