Two Russians submit complaints against Putin for riding motorcycle without helmet during nationalist bike show

Maxim Chikhunov, an attorney from Vladivostok, has asked the traffic safety department of Sevastopol, Crimea, to charge Vladimir Putin with an administrative offense after the Russian president was recorded riding a motorcycle there without a helmet.

Chikhunov wrote that, on August 10, “a citizen by the name of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin [rode a Ural-model motorcycle] along with a group of unidentified individuals” without wearing proper safety gear. The ride took place during a bike show hosted by the pro-Russian nationalist biker group “Nochnye Volki” (“Night Wolves”).

Regional legislator Oleg Khomutinnikov of the Lipetsk region simultaneously submitted a complaint to Russia’s Attorney General expressing “concern” regarding “the organization of the president’s athletic vacation activities” and asking prosecutors to investigate any legal violations. The Kremlin, the Prosecutor General’s Office, and Sevastopol’s traffic safety administration have not yet commented on either complaint.

A similar incident took place in May 2018 when Putin rode in a truck without wearing a seat belt during the opening of the Crimean Bridge. At the time, Russia’s Federal Security Service explained that the bridge had not yet officially opened by the time Putin rode across it, meaning that traffic laws did not yet apply to it.