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Russian TV reporter attacked during live holiday broadcast

Source: Meduza

During a live broadcast from Gorky Park in Moscow on Wednesday, a television correspondent from the Russian station NTV was punched in the face by a visibly intoxicated man. Nikita Razvozzhayev was in the middle of a report about the park’s celebrations on Paratroopers’ Day, when Russian soldiers notoriously wander the area often heavily under the influence of alcohol.

The TV report was supposed to be an uplifting story, having been introduced with remarks that August 2 is a “special day” for paratroopers, and a “time to meet with military comrades and remember serving in the army.”

“Nobody celebrates their holiday like the paratroopers,” Razvozzhayev said in his report, before a man walked into his shot and started shouting obscenities, with a few directed at Ukraine. When Razvozzhayev asked the individual to quiet down, the man promptly sucker-punched him in the face. The broadcast ended there, and the station’s news anchor warned viewers that NTV’s crew had encountered problems in the field.

Warning: the following video contains violence and Russian swearing. If that disturbs you, you'd likely prefer this calming footage.
Man attacks NTV reporter on Paratroopers Day 2017
NTV

Witnesses later told NTV that the assailant fled the scene, but police soon captured and detained him. Officials say the suspect has no connection to Russia’s paratroopers.

In the video, the assailant is seen wearing a t-shirt that says “Oplot” — the name of a pro-Russian “civic and martial arts group” founded in Ukraine in opposition to the Euromaidan movement. The leader of the Oplot battalion in Donetsk, Alexander Zakharchenko, assumed the presidency of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic in 2014.

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