2024-10-09 05:23:08
Russian police detained soldier and pro-war blogger Yegor Guzenko. The nationalist, who runs a telegram channel called Třináctý with more than 300,000 subscribers, sharply criticized the authorities and President Vladimir Putin himself before his arrest.
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Guzenko said he was arrested in the city of Novopavlovsk in Stavropol Region. He claims that the police beat him during his detention. “I came home for the first time and this is how my hometown welcomed me,” he complained.
According to the Ukrainská Pravda server, the authorities did not officially explain the intervention. Telegram news channel Ostrozhno, Novosti (Caution, News) published footage purportedly of a Russian blogger captured during a police raid on a concert during the Novopavlovsk Day celebration.
The Russian police knock on them and Guzenko screams and swears furiously. According to another Russian channel, Mash, he allegedly got into a scuffle with the police after they commented on the mask he was wearing.
However, the reason for the arrest is still unclear. The Astra Telegram channel writes that Guzenko has been fighting against Ukraine in the Donbass since 2014. In early September, the blogger published several videos criticizing the Russian authorities. “Traitors have taken over the country,” he stated in them.
Guzenko also emphasized that the Russian authorities are getting rid of inconvenient people. As an example, he cited the Russian ultra-nationalist Igor Girkin, who was sentenced to four years in prison.
Guzenko should have indirectly referred to Putin when he used the expression “a certain old man”. He stated that if this “old man had stepped down with honor ten years ago, all this shit wouldn’t have happened”. The blogger said he was not afraid of persecution. “There’s a lot of us, a whole nation. You’re just a bunch, you’re old, you’re all going to die soon,” he added.
In addition, Guzenka’s channel recently criticized the statement of Apti Alaudinov, the commander of Akhmat, a Chechen armed formation fighting on the side of Russia. Alaudinov refuses to exchange Chechen prisoners of war in Ukrainian captivity and advises them to “wash away their shame with blood” and let themselves be killed instead.
Most recently, an audio recording appeared on Guzenka’s channel, in which a male voice explains that his team removed some videos because Yegor is “a boisterous, spontaneous and emotional person.” The recording also indicated that Guzenko needed hospitalization due to severe pain.
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