Russians apologize on video for “incorrect” posts about the terrorist attack

In different regions of Russia, citizens who speak without sufficient sympathy about the terrorist attack in the concert hall “Crocus City Hall” and its victims are persecuted. They receive reports to law enforcement agencies, administrative and criminal cases are opened. Some of them post an apology video on social networks.

In the Lipetsk region, the police searched a local resident who previously stated in her social media account that she does not sympathize with the victims of the terrorist attack in Crocus, as Moscow, in her opinion, lives its own life and does not pay attention to the shelling of Russia’s border regions and death of Russian soldiers. According to the woman, her son is fighting in Ukraine.

The police started an investigation into the fact of the call to commit violent acts and their justification. After the arrival of the police officers, a new video appeared in the account of the Lypchanka, in which she apologizes and claims that she recorded the previous video while being very drunk.

The police detained a resident of Bashkiria, who said on a live stream that “it’s mourning in Moscow, but there is no mourning in Bashkiria,” and called Moscow a “separate state.” After the detention, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Bashkortostan published a video with an apology of the blogger, who stated that he allowed himself “catastrophically incorrect and horrifying statements to draw attention to himself”, but now realized his mistake.

On March 25, yachtsman and decorator Mykola Konashyonok was detained at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport. In social networks, he reacted to the news about the terrorist attack with the words: “Why Krokus and not the Kremlin? Are they confused?” He was charged with justifying terrorism.

On Monday evening, the police published a video in which Konashyonok apologizes for the comment and clarifies that he condemns terrorism. Konashenko’s wife, the well-known art manager Roksana Shatunovskaya, announced on the same day that because of her husband’s inadmissible statement, she was resigning from the post of general director of the large city cultural and entertainment park “New Holland”, which she had headed for more than 12 years.

“Bumaga” publication reports on the detention of one more person in St. Petersburg, whose name is not mentioned. In a video provided by law enforcement agencies, he also apologizes for his comment on social networks under the news about the terrorist attack, calling it a bad joke.

In none of the cases is it known under what conditions the apology videos were recorded and whether their characters were pressured.

• The practice of public apologies for offenses and misdemeanors began in Chechnya in the mid-2010s. People who publicly criticized Ramzan Kadyrov later repented on video. Gradually, this practice spread throughout Russia.