Two men claiming to be members of the Wagner Group forcibly detained Alexander (name changed), a freelance reporter for It's My City, after he photographed a long queue at a Gazpromneft gas station, the outlet reported.
After Alexander took the photos, the two men ran up to him and grabbed him by his clothing. They punched him in the chest, took his mobile phone, and accused him of working for the Ukrainian intelligence services.
Alexander was forced to delete the photos and show them that his gallery was empty. According to the journalist, the attackers called the police and told the dispatcher they had caught a man who was "photographing gas stations for the Ukrainians." Police never arrived, and Alexander was released some time later.
🔶 Long queues at Russian gas stations are increasingly leading to confrontations. In Cheboksary, a man assaulted a female driver during an argument over a spot at a gas pump. In Irkutsk Oblast, criminal charges were brought against a man who tried to cut the line at a gas station and swore at a police officer. In Krasnodar Krai, Cossacks have been deployed to patrol gas stations.