In Yekaterinburg, a freelance correspondent for the magazine “It’s My City” was attacked while standing in line to get gasoline at a gas station.
On the evening of July 7, the journalist tried to photograph the line at the Gazpromneft gas station on Kosmonavtov Street. Two men ran from the line towards the It’s My City Independent reporter, grabbed his clothes and bag, punched him in the chest and took his mobile phone.
The attackers claimed to be “former fighters of the private military company Wagner” and hailed from the Belgorod region. “Because of people like you,” they said, “men always die at the front.” They asked several times: “Do you want to go?”, the It’s My City journalist reported.
Those who attacked the journalist called the police and told the officer on duty that they had arrested a man who was “filming gas stations of Ukrainians.” The police never arrived at the gas station.
According to the journalist, the attackers, after refueling their cars, photographed his passport, copied his data, and then returned his belongings and released him.
The fuel crisis continues in Russia due to Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian refineries. Throughout the country, certain restrictions have been imposed on the sale of gasoline. There are long lines at gas stations. Medusa talked about the conflicts that arise in such queues.