Moscow: A senior Russian politician has apparently been filmed ordering two male aides to “violently rape” a pregnant journalist during a press conference inside the state Duma, The Independent and the Daily Mail reported.
The incident is being described as a ‘disgrace’ to the Russian Parliament.
The pro-Kremlin leader of the populist nationalist Liberal Democratic party embarked on an abusive misogynist and homophobic rant after being asked a seemingly innocuous question regarding the crisis in Ukraine, The Independent reported.
Vladimir Zhironovsky, the lawmaker, now faces sanctions from the Duma’s ethics commission, including a possible three-month ban from public speaking, as well as legal action from the reporter’s employer, Russia Today, the reports said.
As TV cameras and other journalists watched, Mr Zhironovsky was asked by Stella Dubovits-kaya if he felt there should be a diplomatic response to Ukraine banning the entry of Russian men.
According to a translation by Russia Today quoted by The Independent, the politician responded by saying that politicians in Ukraine were “nymphomaniacs” – using the outdated derogatory phrase “uterine frenzy”.
He then suggested that the reporter was likely to also be a “nymphomaniac” — and when told to stop being aggressive towards a six-month pregnant woman, the MP said, “This is no place for you if you’re pregnant… We need healthy people. Preg-nant women should not show up at work. Sit at home and look after your child, got that?”
Mr Zhironovsky then shoved two male aides towards Ms Dubovitskaya and said, “When I say, you run to her and violently rape her.”
Pictures link masked men In Ukraine to Russia: NYT
Washington: Photographs taken in eastern Ukraine suggest that some of the masked armed pro-Kremlin separatists are really Russian soldiers and intelligence operatives, the New York Times (NYT) reported on Monday.
Citing Ukrainian sources and photos and descriptions “endorsed by the Obama administration”, the newspaper reported that some men have been identified in photos of Russian troops taken in other settings. The paper included pictures of operatives taken in Georgia in 2008 and earlier this year in Crimea, and compared them to the men in Slavyansk.
