A freelance journalist working for the independent Russian news outlet It’s My City was assaulted by people waiting in line for gas at a Yekaterinburg filling station.
On the evening of July 7, the journalist attempted to film the line at a Gazprom Neft station on Kosmonavtov Avenue. Two men from the line rushed over, grabbed him by his clothes and bag, punched him in the chest, and seized his mobile phone.
The attackers identified themselves as “former Wagner Group fighters” who had come from Belgorod region. “They said: ‘Because of people like you, guys are constantly dying at the front.’ They asked several times: ‘Do you want to go to the SVO?’” It’s My City quoted the journalist as saying.
The attackers then called police, telling the duty officer they had caught someone “filming gas stations for Ukrainians.” Officers never came to the station.
After fueling their vehicles, the attackers photographed the journalist’s passport, copied down his personal information, returned his belongings, and let him go.
Russia is in the grip of a fuel crisis driven by Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries. Restrictions on gasoline sales have been imposed across the country, and long lines have formed at filling stations.
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