Video Shows Drunk Russian Soldier Knocked Out by ‘Disrespectful’ Youth

A video circulating on social media shows a heated exchange and street brawl between a seemingly drunk Russian man, who said he participated in the war in Ukraine, and another individual.

The footage, which shows the Russian soldier getting beaten up, was posted on X, formerly Twitter, by user Dmitri, from WarTranslated, an independent project that translates materials about the war.

It isn’t clear when or where the footage was filmed. Newsweek could not verify the video’s authenticity and has contacted Russia’s Foreign Ministry for comment by email.

There have been numerous reports of Russian troops being beaten up upon their return home from the front lines in Ukraine. In January, Russia’s Investigative Committee said it was opening a criminal case against three people for “acts of hooliganism” after they allegedly attacked Russian servicemen on New Year’s Eve in the city of Chelyabinsk, in southern Russia, just north of the border with Kazakhstan.

In the video, the Russian soldier tells a younger man that he had just “returned” from Ukraine.

When the younger man responds that he doesn’t want to listen to him, he is branded by the soldier as being “disrespectful.”

“We are fighting for you there, but you are so disrespectful,” the soldier said.

“Why am I disrespectful?” the man responded, before asking why the soldier insulted him in a shop earlier, and telling him to “go on your way.”

“We’re fighting for you… ‘Go on your way?!’ And to fight there for the f*****s like you?!” the soldier asked.

At that point, the man throws a punch at the Russian soldier, causing him to stagger. He punches the soldier again, making him sway backwards and forwards and then proceeds to get him in a headlock, before throwing him to the ground.

Another man, who appears to be the soldier’s acquaintance, is caught on camera as he attempts to defend himself, saying: “I’m not involved, not involved!”

The Russian soldier stands up again, but is knocked once more to the ground by the younger man, who asks: Who’s a f***** now? I’m asking you. Get the f*** out of here! You hear me? I said go your own way, didn’t I? Answer my question!

The video cut shortly after the man kicked the soldier.

“In Russia, a drunk ‘veteran of the SMO’ tried to chat up, and then insulted random guys in a shop. But it didn’t go as planned for him, just like the said ‘SMO’,” Dmitri wrote on X, using the Kremlin term for the war in Ukraine—”special military operation.”

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